Report into handling of Past Cases Review

Jun 23, 2018 by

from the Church of England website:

The independent report into the Church’s handling of its 2007-9 Past Cases Review, PCR, has been published today.  The PCR was undertaken by the Church of England in 2007-09 following evidence that the Church had failed to act appropriately in cases of child sexual abuse by clergy and church officers.  More than 40,000 clergy files dating back over 30 years were reviewed across the then 44 dioceses.

In November 2015, in his report to the Archbishops’ Council, the newly appointed National Safeguarding Adviser noted ‘growing recognition of shortcomings of PCR’; inconsistencies in the application of the House of Bishops Protocol designed to bring consistency and independence to the process, cases of abuse coming to light that should have been identified in the PCR and survivors not being engaged in the process.

Following an initial screening process by the National Safeguarding Team, Sir Roger Singleton was asked to independently review the adequacy of the Past Cases Review and makes recommendations to the Church of England.

The report sets out the findings of this independent scrutiny and makes nine recommendations. These have been accepted by both the Archbishops’ Council and House of Bishops, and action is now being taken to address both the shortcomings of the original PCR and to instigate a further review known cases and new appointments made since 2007.

Today’s report will be sent to the Independent Inquiry for Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) to which Sir Roger Singleton gave evidence during the Chichester Case Study public hearing in March of this year.

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