A SIXTH serious-incident report has been sent to the Charity Commission relating to Bangor Cathedral, a statement on the Church in Wales website said on Tuesday.
The reports relate to both safeguarding and financial matters, and concern both the Cathedral and the Bangor diocesan board of finance (DBF). Actions taken to address the concerns include the Chapter reimbursing the DBF monies spent on a choir trip to Dublin.
Among the concerns uncovered in a recent Visitation and safeguarding audit carried out at the Cathedral was “weak financial controls, unclear reporting lines, and spending decisions that were insufficiently scrutinised”. Between 2021 and early 2024, one individual held positions as both sub-dean of Bangor Cathedral and diocesan secretary.
On Tuesday, a “supplementary statement” was published, following publication of summaries of the Visitation and audit on 3 May (News, 9 May). It says that the Chapter met on Monday and discussed “financial record keeping and procedures. As a result of this discussion, it decided that a serious incident report should be sent to the Charity Commission.”
It then relates that this follows five serious-incident reports concerning Bangor Cathedral sent to the Charity Commission last year. Four of these related to safeguarding; three of which have been closed, the statement says. The remaining safeguarding report remained open as the commissioning and undertaking of the Visitation and safeguarding audit was one of the necessary responses. The fifth report “related to a financial matter and was closed in March this year”.
On Tuesday, the Church Times saw an email sent in January from the Charity Commission’s whistleblowing team to a representative of a whistleblowing group in Bangor that had raised concerns about the Bangor diocesan trust, Bangor diocesan board of finance, and the Dean and Chapter of Bangor Cathedral.
The email states that the Commission planned to write to the trustees with advice “on how to improve the way they run the charities”, covering “governance and reference trustee responsibilities and decision making, along with a reference to guidance on serious incident reporting”.
The whistleblowing complaint from the Bangor group set out a number of concerns about the management of the diocese between 2016 and 2024. This included expenditure of £418,000 on new furniture for Bangor Cathedral, including a new altar, choir stalls and pews.
It stated: “Details of the project were discussed with the cathedral chapter, who seem to have been informed that the cost would be split three ways between cathedral, diocese and the Representative Body of the Church in Wales. In the event, the diocese bore the bulk of the cost. It is unclear what level of due diligence was done by the diocesan council before the invoices were paid.”
On Thursday, a spokesman for Bangor Cathedral said that this project had formed part of the serious incident report made by Archbishop John in July 2024. “The report noted that in the case of the expenditure on furniture there had been inadequate consultation and information.”
Other concerns set out in the whistleblowers’ document concern three trips abroad made between November 2022 and August 2023, including travel by the cathedral choir to Dublin. They wrote: “The total expenditure on these trips has been put at around £20,000. This was paid for by the diocese, even though these trips involved mainly cathedral staff.”
The Bangor Cathedral spokesman said on Thursday that, in the case of the Dublin trip, the Archbishop had taken “a series of actions to correct the issues which he had reported . . . The Dean and Chapter have agreed to pay back funds spent by the Diocese which should have been borne by them.”
The whistleblowers’ email, which ran to more than 4000 words, relayed a series of concerns about effective governance at both the cathedral and the DBF, with a focus on the dual roles held by Canon Siôn Rhys Evans, who was appointed as sub-dean by Archbishop John in 2021. It expressed concern about a lack of manpower and scrutiny, including effective monitoring of how the arrangement was working.
On Thursday, the Bangor Cathedral spokesman said: “The customary processes with appraisal and Ministry Development Review were followed.” However, the first recommendation of the Visitation was that “any future appointment to the role of Dean or Sub-Dean should be exclusive of other responsibilities”.
Canon Siôn Rhys Evans did not exercise any ministry at the cathedral from March 2024 and was away from work at the DBF during this period. The whistleblowers’ document spoke of a lack of “additional management support” to the diocese or the cathedral and details the impact on the daily life and ministry of the cathedral of “fewer and fewer clergy”. At the time of writing, only one residentiary canon was in place.
They wrote: “The worship life of the cathedral is suffering as daily eucharists and evensongs are cancelled because of lack of staff resilience. . . In the words of one canon, the stress of the current visitation has brought the fragile management situation at the cathedral ‘to near collapse’.”
On Thursday, the cathedral spokesman said: “We acknowledge the difficulties which the shortage of staff caused for all concerned. In response to the concerns, additional staff and clergy resource has been allocated, including the appointment of an Operations Officer.”
The second recommendation of the Visitation, completed some months ago, was that “urgent consideration” be given to placing an “acting sub dean” in place to “steady the ship”. The Visitation report stated: “It is vital that additional clergy resources are placed as soon as practically possible.”
A spokesperson for Bangor Cathedral said on Tuesday: “The Cathedral Chapter take their responsibilities for good governance very seriously and have decided that, given information which has come to their attention, the Charity Commission should be sent a serious incident report. While we cannot provide ongoing commentary on the individual case, we will be working with the Charity Commission to ensure that the issue is resolved as quickly as possible and that any improvements which need to be made in our procedures are put into place without delay.”
The Charity Commission defines a serious incident as “an adverse event, whether actual or alleged, which results in or risks significant harm to your charity’s beneficiaries, staff, volunteers or others who come into contact with your charity through its work; loss of your charity’s money or assets; damage to your charity’s property; harm to your charity’s work or reputation.”
Last week, Archbishop John announced the creation of both an implementation group tasked with ensuring the implementation of the recommendations in both reports, and of an Oversight Board.
On Tuesday, a document outlining the Board’s scope was published. The Board would be “a place of accountability, oversight and support for the Bangor Cathedral Chapter and, when appointed, the Dean of Bangor, as a healthy spiritual and operational culture is rebuilt.” It was “empowered to ask probing questions, to drill down into detail and to have zero tolerance of bad behaviour, obfuscation and lack of candour.”
Its work would be complete only when several conditions have been met. The Board must be “content that the Chapter has become a functional, properly trained trustee body which operates with appropriate boundaries around confidentiality, embraces its fiduciary duties, and can demonstrate good governance.”
This story was updated on 15 May