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INEQE said in its 2025 audit that the Church of England was experiencing a “dangerous” period of institutional “drift” regarding future safeguarding structures.
The company also said that unprecedented engagement from more than 10,000 contributors showed “a maturing safeguarding culture, though critical structural inhibitors remain at the senior level”.
The findings are set out in INEQE’s 2025 Annual Report on the Independent Safeguarding Audits of Church of England Dioceses and Cathedrals, alongside two companion reports, Chorister Safeguarding and Victim and Survivor Engagement.
The audit highlighted “tangible” improvements in safeguarding, increasingly understood as a “gospel and theological imperative” rather than as merely an administrative requirement. The report also speaks of growing confidence among individuals in raising concerns without fear of reprisal.
Meanwhile, progress has been made in safer recruitment and chorister well-being. Old models prioritising musical performance have been replaced by more thoughtful, “child-centred” decision-making, INEQE says.
“Supervision structures are stronger, communication with schools is more formalised in many settings, and there is increasing confidence in recognising that safeguarding and musical excellence are not competing priorities but mutually reinforcing responsibilities,” the chorister safeguarding report says.
But progress overall is being stalled, not by senior clergy, but by a “small group of influential senior officers at the diocesan level and certain individuals within the national Church”, INEQE suggests.
Further, there is a readiness among these individuals to “hide behind exceptionalism, Canon Law, tradition, and procedural defensiveness” to resist operationally independent safeguarding structures, such as the establishment of a Director of Safeguarding.
The report also speaks of the delay of vital recommendations. “Ignoring evidence-based recommendations invites risk”.
Jim Gamble, the lead auditor, said: “This annual report draws together two years of audit evidence and its message is clear — the Church is on a positive trajectory. Yet, once again, we publish at a time of significant uncertainty about the future structures of the Church of England.
“At the time of our 2024 report, the intention was to implement the recommendations of Alexis Jay’s Future of Church Safeguarding review. That has since been overtaken by the Safeguarding Structures Programme, whose outcome and direction remain, at the time of writing, unclear. This must be addressed urgently.
“The Church needs to set out the evidence that underpins its chosen path and a firm timeline for moving beyond the current ambiguity. Real progress has been made — the last thing the wider Church now needs is drift. Whatever comes next must command the confidence of all stakeholders and that confidence will be built on evidence, clarity, and a meaningful timeline.”
INEQE audits have previously identified overwork in diocesan safeguarding offices and called for greater capacity. The recent audit of the NST recommended the establishment of specialist HR capacity to advise on “ensuring conduct issues are clearly separated from safeguarding processes”.
In recent months, the Charity Commission has taken a growing interest in the Church’s approach to safeguarding. In November, it said that implementation of reform was being pursued with “insufficient urgency and pace” and the Commission raised a concern about definitions.
In January, it censured the dioceses of Liverpool and Chelmsford for their handling of safeguarding allegations against the former Bishop of Liverpool Dr John Perumbalath.