Church acts over gag orders

THE Church of England on Tuesday (20) banned non-disclosure agreements after the Archbishop of Canterbury said they must no longer be used to silence abuse victims.

Justin Welby (above) said he was “horrified” to learn of racist abuse aimed at priests and staff within the church, as exposed in a BBC Panorama documentary on Monday (19).

Dr Elizabeth Henry, the Church of England’s former adviser on race relations, told the programme that ethnic minority priests and staff who made complaints of racism within church have been paid off to “buy their silence”.

She alleged that several victims who received compensation had to sign non-disclosure agreements.

Welby said he was unaware that non-disclosure agreements, known as NDAs, were being used to prevent those who received payouts over racist abuse from speaking publicly about the incidents.

He revealed that he and the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, have written to “senior people” within the church’s administration telling them that NDAs must no longer be used.