Church of England ‘profoundly concerned’ over abuse survivors data breach

The Church of England has said it’s “profoundly concerned” after a knowledge breach disclosed the emails of abuse survivors. 

Kennedys Law LLP, which administers the independent abuse Redress Scheme on behalf of the Church of England, apologised for the breach this week. 

In a press release, the law firm said that a message had been from Kennedys on Tuesday to 194 individuals and law firms who had registered to receive updates in relation to the Church of England Redress Scheme. 

Only the e-mail addresses were visible and no other personal details of the individuals were shared, the law firm said. 

It attributed the error to “human error” and added that it has reported the breach to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The Church of England said the breach was “deeply regrettable” and that it was in discussions with Kennedys to know the way it occurred and “ensure robust steps are taken to stop anything similar from happening again”. 

“First and foremost, our focus is on those affected. We recognise the distress this has caused, particularly for survivors who trusted the scheme to handle their information with care and confidentiality,” the Church of England said.

It added, “This mustn’t have happened. We will proceed to observe the situation closely and support efforts to revive trust and confidence.”

The Bishop of Winchester, Philip Mounstephen, former Chair of the Church of England’s Redress Scheme, expressed his “deep sorrow” over the breach in a letter to survivors.

“Survivors deserve and may receive the utmost care, confidentiality, and respect,” he said.

“On behalf of the Church, I would like to say clearly: there might be no excuses for this failure. We know that this has negatively affected people and trust has been damaged, and we grieve that this has happened.” 

Support is on the market to people affected by the breach at Safe Spaces or by emailing redress@churchofengland.org