Church funding policy for victim support

The Index has not yet recorded a verbatim government response to this recommendation.

No statement on delivery from Church of England has been found in the sources searched. This is separate from the response above.

On 25 November 2020, the Church of England stated that it will continue with the development of a redress scheme and with the interim pilot scheme. The Church of England is also engaging with a number of survivors in urgent need and some emergency payments have already been made. On 29 March 2021, the Church of England (CoE) stated that the ‘Responding well to victims and survivors of abuse’ policy is being revised and will specify a minimum level of support that all Church bodies must provide to survivors in terms of therapeutic support. Victims and survivors have been consulted in the revision of the policy and the Church will continue to involve survivors in the next stages of development. Formal approval of this policy by the National Safeguarding Steering Group is expected by summer 2021, with implementation effective January 2022. In addition, the CoE stated that it is developing national proposals for redress within the Church, including financial compensation, support for rebuilding lives, emotional well-being support and apology. The CoE stated that a Redress Scheme Development Manager has been recruited to take this work forward and that meetings will commence shortly with survivors and key stakeholders across the Church. On 7 April 2021, the Church in Wales (CiW) stated that it has now introduced Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) support for survivors via two different sources. The first is ‘Safe Spaces’, operated by Victim Support, and the second is specific to the CIW and is run by New Pathways. The CiW commits to offer funding towards such counselling as may be recommended by the ISVA where the abuse was committed by the CiW clergy, or in a church context. The CiW also stated that the sufficiency of this provision will be reviewed regularly, in consultation with its Safeguarding Panel, Safeguarding Committee, and the providers of the ISVA service. On 4 February 2022 the Archbishops' Council of the Church of England provided an update on their Interim Support Scheme for provision for immediate help and support to victims and survivors. It also provided an update on plans for the Church of England to implement a national redress scheme.