The Principal of Oak Hill, the Revd Dr James Robson, has confirmed that there are no bullying allegations hanging over any members of the current leadership team at the Church of England theological college in north London.

After a summary of an internal ‘organisational-health review’ commissioned by the conservative evangelical college was leaked to the Church Times, the paper reported on November7^th that a member of the college’s leadership team had been accused of bullying female staff.

The paper said: ‘Restoration, forgiveness, and healing are needed at Oak Hill Theological College after recent “difficult times”, an organisational-health review has concluded.

‘This follows the departure in 2023 of the Revd Johnny Juckes as College President (News, 6 April 2023), but the Church Times understands that the concerns raised by staff which prompted the review do not pertain only to Mr Juckes’s leadership, but also to the conduct of another member of the current leadership. In the past three years, 15 staff members have left, including two of the three women on the teaching faculty. One resigned with a settlement, and one was on a fixed-term contract.’

The paper reported Robson declining ‘to comment on whether there were current concerns about a member of the leadership team concerning bullying behaviour towards female staff’.

A follow-up news story by Evangelicals Now on November 13^th revealed that the review, ‘which was internal and never intended for public release, was in fact given to Oak Hill seven months ago, though its details have only just been leaked to the Church Times’.

The current leadership team comprises five people: Robson as Principal; Matthew Sleeman as Vice Principal; Tim Ward as a second Vice Principal; Director of Operations and Finance, Helen Archer-Smith; and Director of Engagement, Johnny Reid.

Anglican Ink contacted Robson last week to ask whether a current member of the leadership team meant current back in April or current now.

Robson responded: ‘I can confirm to you that there are no current concerns about any members of the Leadership Team.’ He also confirmed that ‘the leadership team has not changed since April’.

But he gave no further details about the bullying allegations reported by the Church Times raising the question whether they had been levelled against a former member of the leadership team.

Robson told AI: ‘One paragraph in the Church Times article alluded to possible current concerns about a member of the Leadership Team. I addressed the question of how we handle concerns in a quotation at another point in the article: “As a College we value our strong Christian ethos where kindness flourishes and there are positive relationships. There will be occasions when concerns are raised with us about a member of staff, and we encourage a culture which enables issues to be raised and effectively addressed. In such circumstances we manage concerns in a way which is fair to all concerned, and in line with due process. We need to respect the confidentiality of all our employees and any third parties and have a duty to minimise gossip, rumour or speculation”.’

The C of E’s conservative evangelical constituency has been badly tarnished by the cover-up of the John Smyth abuse scandal.  Chronicled in the C of E’s Makin Review into the scandal published in November 2024, the cover-up was orchestrated by conservative evangelical clergy leading the Iwerne camps in Dorset where Smyth groomed his victims in the 1970s and early 1980s. In the aftermath of this scandal, surely the Oak Hill leadership would be keen to be seen to come clean over how it has dealt with the bullying allegations?

This raises the further question: what support is the Oak Hill Council, chaired by Jeremy Anderson CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire), giving the generally well-regarded Robson in his dealings  with the media?

For the sake of Oak Hill’s staff and students and its supporters within the wider Church, surely the college council urgently needs to get a grip on its communications and issue a clear and transparent statement about how it has been handling the bullying allegations?

Julian Mann, a former Church of England vicar, is an evangelical journalist based in Lancashire, UK.