Church cuts ties with sex victims on insurer's advice, claims report

The Church of England withdrew support for sex abuse victims on the advice of its insurers, it has been claimed.

Officials allegedly severed ties with victims who had suffered at the hands of clergy, once compensation had been paid.

One sex abuse victim, who was paid £35,000 in compensation after being raped in the 1970s by a member of the clergy, claimed he was cut adrift once the payment had been made and blamed the church's insurers, Ecclesiastical.

An independent review into the case stated that the insurer's advice had "directly conflicted" with the pastoral and compassionate responsibilities of the church, adding that "financial interests were allowed to impact practice".

The findings of the review, conducted by Ian Elliot, a child safeguarding specialist, were accepted in full by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

A Church of England spokesman said: "The Church of England is absolutely committed to its pastoral response to alleged victims and survivors and published new guidance in 2015 emphasising that this needs to be separated as far as possible from the management processes for the situation, and from legal and insurance responses."

But the insurance company, Ecclesiastical - which has a senior member of the clergy on its board - has vehemently denied it advised the church to sever pastoral ties after compensation had been paid.

A spokesman for the firm said: "We have great sympathy for the survivors who have suffered such awful abuse and it is hugely disappointing that their view of us has been damaged by factual inaccuracies relating to our company in the Elliott Report. 

The spokesman added: "We were not asked to participate in this review and were not given the opportunity to set the record straight. Contrary to what the Elliott Report claims, we did not advise the Church of England to withdraw pastoral care from the survivor. 

"We have always been clear that pastoral care and counselling can and should continue in parallel with an insurance claim."