Clergy Conduct Measure

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff Excerpts

Wednesday 24th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Bishop of Manchester]

My Lords, the Clergy Conduct Measure is a vital part of the Church of England’s ongoing reform of clergy discipline and safeguarding. During the passage of this Measure through the General Synod, the Church has acknowledged that the current clergy discipline system does not always serve complainants well. Too often, they have found the process opaque and painfully slow. Equally, it has not served clergy well, leaving many in a state of prolonged anxiety and limbo, worried they will lose house and job.

This new Measure is the result of six years of detailed work to address that situation. The key principle at its heart is proportionality. The system introduces three different tracks that complaints will be allocated to: as a grievance, as misconduct or as serious misconduct. Each of those tracks has its own independent procedure for the investigation and resolution of the complaint. So, by triaging cases effectively from the outset, the Measure seeks to ensure that every complaint is handled appropriately and at the right level of seriousness. Crucially, this will, we believe, lead to a much quicker process.

The Measure makes vital strides in aligning safeguarding and discipline processes. The one-year limitation period is abolished for allegations of serious misconduct, meaning that somebody who has been seriously harmed will be able to bring a complaint, regardless of when the alleged conduct took place, without having to seek special permission. In cases involving children or vulnerable adults, safeguarding professionals will automatically become a party to the complaint, providing critical input into the decision-making process. This alignment will be significantly better for both complainants and respondents. It ensures that safeguarding is treated not as some sort of separate silo but as absolutely central to and integrated within the disciplinary framework.

Alongside this, new statutory duties are to be placed on bishops to implement support for all those who are affected by a complaint. There are also significant protections for clergy: the introduction of restraint orders against those who persistently bring vexatious complaints—and we have them. For the most serious cases, where the cleric is prohibited from ministry for life, we have reintroduced deposition from holy orders: what used to be called being “defrocked”. That disappeared with the last clergy discipline Measure, but one thing that came out of the IICSA inquiry was the need often for victims and survivors to know that this person is no longer even legally a member of the clergy, whether or not they are allowed to function as a member of the clergy.

The Measure will be supplemented by rules made under secondary legislation. That will be considered by the General Synod next month and then laid before Parliament. I have been part of the committee drafting those rules, and I can assure noble Lords that they provide further safeguards, including robust case management powers for tribunal judges, greater protection for vulnerable witnesses by way of special measures when giving evidence, the power to appoint litigation friends for children and those with a disability or who lack capacity, and prohibitions on harmful cross-examination during hearings, unless an advocate has been appointed. These provisions basically mirror the best practice nowadays in the secular courts.

During the passage of the Measure to the General Synod, a very wide consultation took place. I am very pleased that the Church of England employee and clergy advocates, who are part of the faith workers’ branch of Unite and represent over 2,500 clergy and employees, have this week confirmed to me their support for the Measure being passed by your Lordships. I will leave it to the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler- Sloss, to take us through this in a little more detail in a few minutes’ time but, as noble Lords will be aware, when we first took this to the Ecclesiastical Committee, it found it “not expedient”. That had not happened since the early 2000s, but it is scrutinising us with great assiduity at the moment, which we appreciate.

The principal concern was that the original draft of Section 31(3) provided that disciplinary hearings would be held in private. The committee asked the Church to look again at that, and we did. The Measure was reintroduced to the General Synod in February and that section was amended, so that the presumption is now that hearings will take place in public—although not always, and I may say more on that later if noble Lords are interested. The Church is very grateful for the work of the Ecclesiastical Committee and, indeed, your Lordships’ House in scrutinising our Measures. We have better legislation because of it, just as the nation has better legislation in secular law. The revised Measure obtained overwhelming support on final approval in the General Synod. There were no votes against, which, considering the wide range of people on the General Synod of the Church of England, is quite something.

The Church is very aware that there remains further work to be done on our safeguarding structures. That work is continuing. It will come to the General Synod and to Parliament in due course, as will the rules for this Measure. The Measure is not a silver bullet—it does not resolve all past safeguarding issues in the Church—but it is a necessary and important step forward in how discipline is administered, and one that will be a benefit to all those who take part, both those who have proper complaints or grievances and those who are respondents to those matters. The road to reform has been a long one and I know there are many well beyond this Chamber who, according to your Lordships’ pleasure, would wish to see this Measure now obtain Royal Assent. I beg to move.

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Finlay of Llandaff) (CB)]

My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, is taking part remotely. I invite the noble Baroness to speak.

[Baroness Brinton (LD) [V]]

My Lords, I declare my interest that one of my sons is a priest in the Church of England.

I thank the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Manchester for introducing the Measure to your Lordships’ House today, and the Ecclesiastical Committee for its helpful report on the revised Clergy Conduct Measure, published earlier this month, both of which have been very helpful. I also thank those people who have provided briefings and comments ahead of this debate.

My Front-Bench portfolio—victims and vulnerable people—means that I have a particular interest in formal processes to investigate and remedy complaints, whether minor or very serious. I should also add that, as president of the Lib Dems between 2015 and 2019, I was a witness at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse regarding historical sexual abuse by a senior Liberal Party MP. As president, I was involved with changes to our own party’s disciplinary process and worked with the Committee on Standards in Public Life, as well as my opposite numbers in other parties at that time. Some of my questions today reflect my experience of those processes a few years down the line.

Assessing how process works in practice is where I want to start. The statement of purpose for the CCM currently speaks of preserving

“the collective good standing of clergy”.

If viewed from the Church of England’s perspective, this is logical. A new Measure should work so well that it will root out established poor behaviour through a transparent process in which all participants feel heard, even if one party disagrees with the outcome. That would certainly speak to the continuing of the collective good standing of the clergy.

However, those with experience of past complaints under previous Measures that were unsatisfactory might be concerned that this would repeat the old practice, where the good standing of the clergy was there to protect the Church of England, regardless of the claimant and the cleric. That, of course, would be a failure, so it is good to hear the Bishop explain to your Lordships’ House how this system will work.

My first question is: what review and reporting structures will there be to ensure that it is the former and not the latter outcome? Which bodies in the Church will see annual general reports on how the system is working? If minor changes need to be made in practice, is there capacity to do this without starting all over again through synod and then Parliament?

I move on to the details of the process. The division into four categories of complaint is helpful, as is the flexibility for the assessor and/or the bishop to change or reallocate the complaint, in the words of the Measure, if further evidence surfaced so that it needed to move into a different category. I am pleased to see a formal process for vexatious complaints and litigants. It is a sad part of the tribalisation of our society that far too many people move straight to complaints and use the law repeatedly, rather than all parties being more considered and discussing things earlier on in the process —where that is appropriate, of course. It is clearly not in some of the more serious cases that are likely to appear.

The changes in process to reflect the IICSA recommendations are also clear and helpful, and it is right that the penalty by consent, where a penalty was agreed with a bishop entirely in private, has been abolished. The previous arrangement would inevitably lead complainants to believe that deals were being done behind the scenes. That is never good, so it is good that it has gone.

I also want to examine the boundaries between safeguarding and the complaints procedure, because the safeguarding procedure and the complaints procedure are separate but interlinked. IICSA’s full report demonstrated the failures of a number of organisations in our society that at best ignored warnings about abuse and at worst hid appalling long-term abuse by people involved. How will the Church judge the very different needs of a safeguarding service and a conduct process? It is vital that they are not separated but that they are different.

Finally, I note that the Ecclesiastical Committee report expresses concern that it was disappointed that its comments in a previous report about meeting in public were not taken into account, so it was good to hear from the right reverend Prelate that this has now been accepted. Accountability and safeguarding must be at the heart of any process like this, and transparency is also vital. As long as synod and other relevant bodies regularly see the annual data on complaints, including those unfounded or vexatious complaints and allegations of sexual behaviour, then the Church has the mechanism to monitor the type of cases and the judgments in those cases over time. Only that way will the Church get a clear idea of whether it has a fully functioning process. That is because the Church must be firm on dealing with those who are perpetrators of abuse, but also clear when vexatious claims are made to undermine clergy. That is a hard task, but I believe this Measure and its process appears to have the capability to do so. I wish it well.