All Saints Spring Park Parochial Church Council v Church Commissioners

On appeal from the Schemes of the Church Commissioners under Pastoral Measure 1983
This is an appeal brought by All Saints Spring Park Parochial Church Council ("ASSP") against the decision of Church of England Church Commissioners dated 28 September 2021 that the pastoral scheme for ASSP in the Diocese of Southwark should proceed notwithstanding the representations against it. The scheme would have the effect of dispossessing the Reverend Yvonne Clarke, who served as the incumbent of the benefice of ASSP, and who was the first black deacon in the Church of England and the first and only black woman priest in the Diocese for many years. ASSP appeals to the Board on the basis that this decision was wrong, particularly in light of the impact of Mrs Clarke's dispossession on the local BAME congregation.
The issue is:
Whether, when deciding that a scheme for the dissolution and division of a parish in the Diocese of Southwark should proceed, the Church Commissioners wrongly:
(i) failed to consider whether the scheme gave rise to indirect discrimination, contrary to articles 8 and 9 of the Convention, read with article 14, insofar as the scheme would deprive a BAME-majority congregation of a BAME-led ministry;
(ii) failed to have due regard to the public sector equality duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010;
(iii) failed to consider the relevance of race inequality to the scheme's purpose, namely to make better provision for "the cure of souls"; and
(iv) wrongly used the scheme to penalise the incumbent reverend for perceived mismanagement.
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council unanimously dismisses the PCC’s and the Reverend Yvonne Clarke’s appeal.
More information is available on our website: JCPC 2021/0114