Church of England redress scheme – will it actually bring justice and closure?

The Church of England has announced that following the findings from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), it is going to set up a redress scheme. 

As a lawyer who specialises in representing abuse survivors, I am fully aware of the impact that abuse followed by a lengthy legal process can have on a survivor’s mental health. I am also aware that, generally, abuse survivors do not like to be treated as ‘another one’. They deserve to be heard on an individual basis as to the abuse they suffered and the specific impact it has had on their lives. 

As a result, I have always been conflicted about redress schemes which often, but not always, offer less than what a survivor could obtain from a civil court. However, I do appreciate that some schemes have built in mechanisms to enable survivors to receive apologies and to ensure that their individual circumstances are put forward. I also appreciate that the aim of a scheme is to accelerate the process for survivors and reduce the time, emotion and cost involved in getting a sense of justice and closure.   

While it is important to include survivors in the process of setting up a scheme, the input of legal representatives and others with specialist knowledge is also needed, which can help to form a more representative view of the needs of survivors.   

At present, the Church of England has stated that two survivor representatives from a survivor working group are able to provide comments on the scheme. I do not believe that this is adequate or can be representative of the wide range of abuse survivors in respect of sex, gender, age, location, sexuality, abuse and abusers, race, ethnicity, disability, socio-economic background or severity of injuries and losses flowing from the abuse. 

The Church of England has published some details of its scheme, but we still await the final version of it. I have attempted to contact the lawyers who have been instructed by the Church of England to administer the scheme for a number of weeks with a view to understanding more about it, and to provide input to try and ensure it is as fair a scheme as possible.   

Sadly, I have only recently received an acknowledgment to say that they will come back to me in due course but are unable to discuss things with me currently.   

It appears from the scheme to date that there is extremely limited and restricted provision for survivors to have legal representation, and to ensure that these legal costs are paid by the Church of England. This leaves survivors at an inherent disadvantage which we have also seen in other such schemes. 

I await to see the final scheme, which is hoped for by autumn 2025, and plead with the Church of England and their lawyers to try and obtain as much input from survivors, legal representatives and others. Otherwise, I question how the scheme can be considered fair and how they can expect survivors of abuse to trust the scheme.