Church of England Volunteers Subject to 58,000 Criminal Records Checks in Last Year

Gloucester Citizen
December 26, 2013

http://www.gloucestercitizen.co.uk/Church-England-volunteers-subject-58-000-criminal/story-20372384-detail/story.html

Annabel Hayter

THOUSANDS of church volunteers could be pushed into leaving their roles because of “overzealous” criminal record checks.

Figures show the Church of England carried out 58,000 such checks in the last 12 months alone before allowing people to work in parishes or take office roles.

In 2010, Annabel Hayter quit her role as chairman of the Gloucester Cathedral Flower Guild after being told she and her team would have to undergo the vetting process.

She had minimal contact with children, but church authorities were concerned that she and her fellow flower arrangers shared a lavatory with choirboys.

The move led to the resignation of six members of the cathedral’s flower guild.

Mrs Hayter said she had been “deeply insulted” by the demands for criminal record checks.

She told the Daily Telegraph: “I had worked in that cathedral for 15 years – I’d had the clergy to dinner in my house – and I felt it was offensive to be told I’d have to go through a criminal records check. It is an imposition that just creates suspicion and changes people’s perceptions of the church.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury has been warned by campaigners that the checks could result in thousands of volunteers feeling ostricised.