AN ONLINE petition calling for an independent review of safeguarding and governance within the diocese of London speaks of “serious and ongoing safeguarding and governance failures” within the diocese, “which have caused deep harm to survivors, clergy, and laity, and proceed to erode trust within the Church’s witness”.
It was launched last month by Emma Ash, a former pastoral assistant within the diocese. She has reported experiencing “spiritual and emotional abuse” and alleges that, when she reported it, “the system minimised her concerns, reframed her experience, and ultimately shut her down.” She was told that she had “misunderstood what happened”.
Michelle Burns, a former London diocesan safeguarding adviser (DSA) and founding father of Guarding the Flock, a safeguarding consultancy, has written a series of blogs documenting her concerns concerning the Church’s practice. In it, she describes safeguarding and church leadership as “so thwarted” that it ceased to operate as a source of guidance or care.
“Instead, it was weaponised, changed into a tool of control that scrutinised with suspicion those that most needed understanding and support. The very structures meant to guard became instruments of harm.”
Speaking to Channel 4 News on Wednesday, Ms Burns, who joined the diocesan safeguarding team in 2022, said: “We didn’t check with one another. Emails were ignored by other colleagues. Management was domineering and type of brutish, I might say. . . When I raised my voice and raised concerns, I became in a short time isolated from the remaining of the team.”
She had been forced to sign a confidentiality agreement on leaving her post, she said: “In speaking out, I’m taking a risk professionally, and legally.”
On Tuesday, Channel 4 revisited the case of Fr Alan Griffin, an Ordinariate priest within the diocese of Westminster who had formerly served as a priest in London diocese and whose suicide prompted a coroner to issue a Prevention of Future Deaths report (News, 27 August 2021). The diocese of London admitted to a list of errors, and a “lessons-learned review” by Chris Robson, was commissioned. This criticised failings among the many diocese’s senior leadership, including a “lack of direction”.
The Vicar of St James’s, West Hampstead, the Revd Robert Thompson, who’s a General Synod member, told Channel 4 News on Wednesday: “I feel the whole diocese has blood on its hands. When Sarah presided on the eucharist, I felt that the blood of Alan Griffin was on her hands. But the blood of Alan Griffin is on her hands and all of our hands, because all of us must take responsibility for the culture of safeguarding inside the diocese — not only the individuals at the highest, but all of us.”
He called on Bishop Mullally to “put a halt on becoming Archbishop of Canterbury, because it would, I feel, destroy the mission of the Church. . . The reality is Sarah’s safeguarding failings inside the diocese are worse than Justin’s.”
In an announcement responding to the Channel 4 programmes, Bishop Mullally repeated the apology made to Fr Alan’s family and friends. “Ever since I became Bishop of London in 2018, and before, I actually have spoken publicly concerning the clear need for independent scrutiny of safeguarding across the Church of England.”
Mr Robson’s recommendations, she said, had been “vital . . . in driving forward change across the diocese of London. That change has been embedded within the Diocesan Safeguarding Team today, as has the necessity for continuous safeguarding improvement and culture change.
“Nevertheless, I understand why now, as I prepare to turn into Archbishop of Canterbury, there might be renewed scrutiny of past cases, and particularly my role. As I said when [I was] announced as the subsequent Archbishop on the third October 2025, we must all be willing to have light shone on our actions, no matter our role within the Church.
“I proceed to be determined to enhance safeguarding across the Church of England. In this diocese, as a part of an ongoing programme across all dioceses, now we have recently undergone an independent safeguarding audit by INEQE. We will need to use its findings and proposals, which might be made public, to construct on the progress made so far.”
The diocese said that Ms Burns had left her post “by mutual agreement”, and that her departure had been mediated through ACAS. “Michelle stays free to make any disclosure under the diocese of London’s whistleblowing policy. Michelle has not done so so far, and didn’t while an worker. However, her allegations have been provided in full to INEQE.”
