The Church of England is set to create a £1billion fund to tackle the legacy of slavery after an earmarked £100million was said to be insufficient.
A report from an independent group of advisers ruled that the church should work with other organisations to create the fund that will be used to invest in black-led global businesses and to provide grants.
According to the report, the initial £100million was insufficient "relative either to the scale of the [commissioners’] endowment or to the scale of the moral sin and crime".
The Church Commissioners - the body which manages the CofE’s financial assets - said it accepts the report but will not increase the £100million investment.
The Church of England is set to create a £1bn fund to tackle the legacy of slavery after an earmarked £100m was said to be insufficient
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However, the group is hoping to attract co-investors to up the fund’s value and would "at some point in the future consider whether to invest more".
Gareth Mostyn, chief executive of the Church Commissioners, said £100million was the "appropriate financial commitment… at this stage" to ensure they can commit to other responsibilities with parishes and church activities.
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".
In January 2023, the CofE publicly acknowledged its historical benefit from the international slave trade.
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It launched the Independent Oversight Group after an £10billion endowment fund was partly traced to Queen Anne’s Bounty - a scheme based on transatlantic chattel slavery.
The Church Commissioners then announced a £100million fund over nine years.
However, an oversight group said the planned fund was "very small compared to the scale of racial disadvantage originating in African chattel enslavement" and suggested speeding up the timeline.
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."
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'
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The report called for a fresh apology from the CofE for "denying that black Africans are made in the image of God and for seeking to destroy diverse African traditional religious belief systems".
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."
She added that the impact of slavery 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."
