The £100 million fund set up by the Church of England in early 2023 to compensate for its historical benefit from the international slave trade had been deemed “insufficient relative either to the scale of the [commissioners’] endowment or to the scale of the moral sin and crime” by a report from an independent group of advisers commissioned by the C of E. In echoes of comments at the time, reported here by Bishop Mike Royal, General Secretary, Churches Together in England, and MJR advisor, who described £100m as a: “drop in the ocean in terms of righting the wrongs of the slave trade”, the report said the proposed fund was “very small compared to the scale of racial disadvantage originating in African chattel enslavement”. The report proposed a “fund for healing, repair and justice” with a target of £1bn. The fund should aim to attract capital from three sources: the Church Commissioners; “other institutions once complicit in African chattel enslavement”; and contributors who “outraged by injustice, wish to make common cause against racial inequality”
While welcoming the report, the Church Commissioners are not increasing the £100m investment but are aiming to attract co-investors to increase the fund’s value. CEO Gareth Mostyn said £100m was the “appropriate financial commitment … at this stage” while ensuring that they could honour existing commitment to parishes and other church activities. The commissioners would “at some point in the future consider whether to invest more”.
Group chair the Right Rev Dr Rosemarie Mallett said: “No amount of money can fully atone for or fully redress the centuries-long impact of African chattel enslavement, the effects of which are still felt around the world today.” These effects are “measurable and apparent in everything from pregnancy and childbirth outcomes to life chances at birth, physical and mental health, education, employment, income, property, and the criminal justice system. We hope this initiative is just the start and is a catalyst to encourage other institutions to investigate their past and make a better future for impacted communities.”
Kehinde Andrews, professor of black studies at Birmingham City University, said it was “impossible to quantify” the lasting impact of slavery or just how much the Church had benefited from it.
Historian David Olusoga commented: “I’m very pleased to see the church recognising that it has a catalytic potential. This is an organisation that is hugely respected around the world that can inspire other organisations to make the same leap into their own history.”
The report also recommended the timeline for delivery should be accelerated. A contact of MJR’s has commented that, 14 months after its announcement, the process for the distribution of the funds “is pretty well non-existent”. No money has yet been disbursed.
