A survivor working group whose members include our Director Jane Chevous, have been working with the Church Of England for the last five years to design a redress scheme for church abuse survivors. This week the group published an open letter to the Archbishops’ Council stating they were no longer able to support the scheme in its current form. They report that in recent months, over key issues we have not been consulted at all, and where we have been consulted our views have not been taken into account’. They highlight concerns about the requirement for all applicants to submit to a new psychiatric assessment to receive funding for therapy, even if they already have a therapist. They also believe the review of the Scheme tariff makes it effectively impossible to achieve the maximum advertised amount of £667,000.
They call for the church and the Scheme administrators to urgently work with the group to address their concerns, and ensure the scheme fulfils its promise to offer survivors the dignity, respect, compassion and generous redress it promised.
Download the full text of the letter HERE.
Church Times article with statement from the church HERE
