On 27th August the Church of England Redress Scheme leaked the personal details of nearly 200 survivors of CofE abuse in a data breach.

House of Survivors recognises that this was human error with no malevolent intent – nevertheless it has distressing consequences for all survivors involved. Many survivors had kept their name and identity carefully hidden. And many of us experience it as yet another betrayal in a long narrative of harm done to us by the Church and its agents. The fact that this breach has occurred so early in this critical process which is meant to redress the Church’s long history of failing to protect and support abuse survivors—makes this incident particularly galling. It reinforces the very failures of safeguarding and care that the redress scheme was meant to address. It may now cause many survivors to be wary and distrustful of the Redress Scheme. 

House of Survivors fears that this data breach may cause the Redress Scheme to be delayed, and in our view this would be the worst outcome. It has taken many years to reach the point we have today, with a Redress Scheme voted for by Synod and ready to begin towards the end of this year or beginning of next. There have been too many delays. Too many survivors are struggling to survive economically as result of the damage in our lives and the re-abuse by the Church.

In our view, the Redress Scheme should move forward without the Church going back to the drawing board to negotiate with a new law firm (which might take another year at least). Kennedys and the Church must work together urgently to put this right and make sure there is no further additional harm to survivors. In our view, Kennedys should quickly offer fair and proportionate compensation to all survivors in the data breach, enabling us to move forward without the additional stress of civil claims.

Update 3rd Sept. 25: HoS Statement released