FINAL approval for the Church of England’s redress scheme for survivors of abuse will be voted on by the General Synod this weekend, after a delay to allow the steering group to consider the eligibility criteria “in light of the Makin report” (News, 17 January).
A report from the steering committee, published on 26 June, sets out a proposed amendment to the draft Abuse Redress Measure which would provide an entitlement to redress “based on a case where a Church officer had had an opportunity to take action which might have prevented a perpetrator from carrying out the abuse to which the application relates but failed to take that action”.
A further amendment, if carried, would allow the Archbishops’ Council to pause the scheme, or vary the method by which awards are determined, if it considers that not doing so puts at risk its continuation as a “going concern”.
Provision to this effect was already part of the draft legislation, but the new clause “requires the exercise of such a power to be more transparent, and subject to greater scrutiny”, the steering committee’s report says.
Under the new wording, the Council would be required to submit its decision to scrutiny by the Synod “as soon as reasonably practicable”, and to give “due regard” to the Synod’s judgement.
In its annual report, also published on 26 June, the Archbishops’ Council Audit and Risk Committee noted these concerns, and said that an audit of the redress scheme “identified the financial feasibility of the scheme as a high risk due to the difficulty in estimating potential demand”.
In February last year, it was confirmed that Ecclesiastical Insurance, one of the main insurers for Church of England bodies, would not participate in the scheme, citing “legal and commercial reasons” (News, 16 February 2024).
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