Global firm Kennedys Law has apologised ‘unreservedly’ and reported itself to the Solicitors Regulation Authority after leaking details of abuse victims signed up to a Church of England redress scheme.
Kennedys said it sent an email on Tuesday evening to 194 individuals and law firms who had registered to receive scheme updates. ‘Due to human error, the email displayed the email addresses making them visible to all of the recipients. No further personal details of individuals were shared. Attempts to recall the message were only partially successful’, the firm stated.
Kennedys has been working with the CoE since March 2024 as its independent scheme administrator, to help manage its National Redress Scheme for victims and survivors of Church-related abuse. This was approved by the General Synod in July, paving the way for the scheme to open for redress applications.
'Kennedys is deeply sorry for the hurt and concern caused to everyone affected by this significant error and accepts full responsibility', the firm added. 'We have contacted everyone who received the message and have reported the incident to the Charity Commission, the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Solicitor’s Regulatory Authority [sic]. We will fully comply with any investigations.
'Additionally, we have launched a full internal investigation to understand how this could have occurred and will incorporate any lessons learnt into our procedures immediately. We understand the significant impact this will have on those affected for which we apologise unreservedly. We remain committed to supporting victims and survivors of Church of England-related abuse to secure the financial redress, therapeutic, spiritual and emotional support, acknowledgement of wrongdoing on the part of the Church, apology and other forms of bespoke redress under this scheme.'
In a separate statement, the Church of England said: ‘While the Church of England is not the data controller for the redress scheme and does not hold or manage the data in question, we are nonetheless profoundly concerned. We are in discussions with Kennedys to understand how this breach occurred and to ensure robust steps are taken to prevent anything similar from happening again.’
