Why does the Church of England struggle to address abuse claims?

BBC investigation into how it dealt with allegations about Blackburn priest Andrew Hindley exposed deep and continuing failings in the Church ’s child protection system.

Canon Hindley was offered a secret six -figure pay-off after being assessed as a potential risk to children and young people.

Church leaders say they were bound by their procedures and, when those failed, they had only one option: a financial settlement.

The Dean of Blackburn said there had been “a meteoric failure of structure and systems which should have been addressed years before”.

Alleged victim of Canon Hindley , referred to in leaked church papers as Boy C , had tried for almost 20 years to have his complaint aired.

Alleged incident happened in 2016 , but when the complaint was made the case was stopped from going to a Church tribunal hearing because more than 12 months had passed since the alleged incident.

In 2020 the same official, Sir Mark Hedley , ruled: “Whilst alcohol provides no defence to assault, for an assault to be constituted, there does have to be some degree of deliberation”.

Safeguarding professional Dr Ian Elliott is concerned the pay-off to Canon Hindley will hurt and shock’ survivors.

A compensation scheme for survivors promised by the Church has yet to be established.

A review in 2022 found there were 383 Church abuse cases that either have never been dealt with or were left unresolved.