Church of England told to boost size of fund to address legacy of slavery

The Church of England has been told to increase a proposed £100m fund earmarked to address the legacy of slavery to £1bn to reflect the scale of “moral sin”.

The church should work in partnership with other organisations to create the fund that will be used to invest globally in black-led businesses and provide grants, says a report from an independent group of advisers commissioned by the C of E.

The £100m initially earmarked by the Church Commissioners was insufficient “relative either to the scale of the [commissioners’] endowment or to the scale of the moral sin and crime”, it said.

The Church Commissioners, the body that manages the C of E’s financial assets, have accepted the report in full.

A £1bn fund would dwarf moves made by other UK institutions to address the legacy of slavery.

Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, said the report was “the beginning of a multi-generational response to the appalling evil of transatlantic chattel enslavement”.

The Independent Oversight Group was set up after the C of E publicly acknowledged its historical benefit from the international slave trade in January 2023. The origins of the C of E’s £10bn endowment fund were partly traced to Queen Anne’s Bounty, a financial scheme established in 1704 based on transatlantic chattel slavery.

At the time, Welby said the church must “take action to address our shameful past” and the Church Commissioners announced a £100m fund over the following nine years.

The oversight group said the proposed fund was “very small compared to the scale of racial disadvantage originating in African chattel enslavement” and the timeline for delivery should be accelerated.

Instead, it proposed a “fund for healing, repair and justice” with a target of £1bn. The group said 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”.

The Church Commissioners have “embraced a target of £1bn”, according to the report. The consequences of slavery had “caused damage so vast it will require patient effort spanning generations to address”, it said.

The fund will be black-led, and will invest in members of disadvantaged black communities, said the report. The Church Commissioners should deliver on their commitment of £100m as an initial step, with £70m earmarked for “return-seeking investments within the first five years”, and £30m allocated to a grant programme to be distributed over 10 years.

The fund “will aim to back the most brilliant social entrepreneurs, educators, healthcare givers, asset managers and historians. It will not pay cash compensation to individuals or provide grants to government bodies.”

It also recommended that a “significant share” of the Church Commissioners’ extensive property portfolio “increases socioeconomic mobility across racial lines by launching and expanding initiatives to provide competitive and/or below-market leases to black businesses”.

It called for a fresh apology from the C of E for “denying that black Africans are made in the image of God and for seeking to destroy diverse African traditional religious belief systems”.

The report said: “African chattel enslavement created a grievous wound across human society. Severe disparities in physical and mental health, nearly insurmountable obstacles to economic empowerment, and unrelenting social divisions kept alive by poisonous racism and white supremacy are all ongoing legacies of this moral sin and crime. Total repair will not be possible for centuries, but the fund is committed to healing as an ongoing and intentional process.”

The Right Rev Dr Rosemarie Mallett, the bishop of Croydon and the group’s chair, 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. But implementing the recommendations will show the commitment of the Church Commissioners to supporting the process of healing, repair and justice for all of those across society impacted by the legacy of African chattel enslavement.”

The impact of slavery persisted today, she said, and was “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.”

Last year the Scott Trust, which owns the Guardian, apologised for the role the newspaper’s founders had in transatlantic slavery and announced a decade-long programme of restorative justice with more than £10m (US$12.3m, A$18.4m) dedicated specifically to descendant communities linked to the Guardian’s 19th-century founders.