forgiveness versus abuse quote

 

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The Charity Commission and the Church of England - a tangled web

Perhaps if the Charity Commission and the Church of England sat down to discuss their differences on - 1) defining what safeguarding is; 2) the complex multiple charity landscape within diocese and overlapping lay and ecclesiatical "laws" - then they might be able to work together better?

The UK's charity regulator, the Charity Commission (CC) has recently been paying some attention to the Church of England (CofE) and safguarding. 

Last year CC said it didn't think the CofE was going fast enough on improving safeguarding.  

This year CC has already given two diocese warnings about trustees not having sufficient oversight on safeguarding issues which should have been reported to CC as serious incidents.  CC highlighted the need for attention by trustees and charity leaders when handling allegations related to individuals in positions of power or influence, including spiritual influence.  Technically CC's warnings to the two diocese were to their Diocesan Board of Finance (DBF).  Each DBF is a charitable company.  

The reaction from the two diocese was very different.  Liverpool accepted CC's findings.  Chelmsford disagreed with its conclusions, describing the warning as "disproportionate".  Bar voicing its opinion Chelmsford appears to have stopped short of challenging the CC through the CC decision procedure, or through the First-tier Tribunal or indeed through the Courts.

What both CC and the CofE seem to be ignoring are some critical differences they have in their understanding of what safeguarding covers and what charity is in charge of what bits of church operations.  

How is safeguarding is defined?    CC thinks safeguarding covers protecting all people who come into contact with a charity through its work.  CofE safeguarding seems to focus particularly on children and vulnerable adults.

Are DBF and the Diocese the same thing?  Each employs various staff (clergy or not). But the DBF doesn't employ all the priests out in the parishes. Nor does it employ the Bishops and Archdeacons.  Nor does it employ the voluntary, (often), Safeguading Officers out in each parish.  Indeed Parochial Church Councils (PCC) are actually charities seperate from DBF.

To complicate matters further much of how the diocese is governed is covered by ecclesiatical laws, called Measures.  And sitting over the diocese management is something called the Bishops Council, whose members are normally also the trustees of the DBF.

Footnotes

1. CC's online details on Liverpool's DBF summarise its charitable object as been "To advance religion and to act as the administrative unit of the Church of England in the diocese".  The detail in the 1926 Memorandum adds in lots more about raising the £ to pay for the diocese activities and managing the £. (2003 appears to be the last update to the Articles).

CC's online details on Chelmsford's DBF summarise its chartiable object as being "To assist and promote the work of the Chutch of England in the diocese of Chelmsford". The detail in the 2018 Memorandum and Articles has more detail on raising £ and managing them. 

Hat tip to Alina Grubnyak on Unsplash for the picture

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