Two Church of England dioceses have been given official warnings by the Charity Commission over their “mismanagement” of safeguarding complaints against the former Bishop of Liverpool.
Former bishop John Perumbalath resigned at the end of January last year after Channel 4 News reporting about accusations from two women, one of whom was a fellow bishop. He has continued to deny the allegations.
The Commission found there had been a “failure to properly handle” the allegations and maintain “appropriate oversight of safeguarding”.
While the Liverpool Diocesan Board accepted the Commission’s findings, the Bishop of Chelmsford disagreed with its conclusions and called the official warning “disproportionate”.
The first woman had accused the bishop of kissing her without consent and groping her in Chelmsford, Essex, where he was Bishop of Bradwell, on separate occasions between 2019 and 2023.
A female bishop also said she was sexually harassed by him when he was Bishop of Liverpool.
Police concluded no further action was needed, while the Church of England said it had also investigated complaints and concluded there was no case to answer in a matter of alleged misconduct while a legal timeframe to investigate a second complaint had expired.
But there had been widespread calls for the bishop to step aside after the programme aired, with church leaders calling his position “untenable”.
Though Perumbalath resigned, Perumbalath said at the time it was “not a resignation occasioned by fault or by any admission of liability”.
He has also previously said he had “consistently denied the allegations made against me” and criticised what he described as a “rush to judgement” and a “trial by media”.
The Charity Commission investigated the Liverpool Diocesan Board of Finance and the Chelmsford Diocesan Board of Finance, and has issued an official warning to both.
It is the first time the charity regulator has taken such action against the Church at either a national or diocese level.
It found that a “lack of appropriate procedures and processes” meant that proper action was not taken and said failings in handling allegations amounted to mismanagement.
The boards of finance, which exist to assist and promote the work of the Church of England and the dioceses, are registered charities.
Charity Commission chief executive David Holdsworth said: “Trustees must be able to effectively challenge the behaviour of powerful individuals, including where that power derives from spiritual leadership.”
In a statement, the Liverpool Diocesan Board of Finance apologised for the errors identified by the Commission.
“We accept the commission’s findings and apologise for the shortcomings identified,” its chair of trustees said.
“We have already made changes to strengthen reporting and governance processes, and we commit to ongoing learning, accountability and continuous improvement”.
But the Bishop of Chelmsford the Right Reverend Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani and the Chelmsford diocesan safeguarding officer Amanda Knight said they “respectfully disagree” with some of the Commission’s conclusions.
In a joint statement, they said: “We take safeguarding in the Diocese of Chelmsford extremely seriously and our response to this complex case involving a former bishop in the diocese was robust and survivor-led”.
They added that they were “committed to working with the regulator to improve our procedures” and many of the recommendations have already been or are in the process of being enacted.
Late last year the Charity Commission issued a statement saying the Church of England nationally needed to work faster to implement the changes it had promised to make the Church a safer place.
