The Charity Commission has opened regulatory compliance cases into two Christian charities in north Wales after safeguarding concerns were raised.
Earlier this year, an external review into Bangor Cathedral concluded, raising several safeguarding concerns.
The Church in Wales revealed last month that six serious incident reports (SRIs) have been made to the commission in the past year.
The regulator has now confirmed that it recently opened cases into the Bangor Diocesan Trust and Dean and Chapter of Bangor Cathedral to assess several issues, including some reported directly by the charities.
The concerns relate to safeguarding concerns, whether there are sufficient financial controls and the management of conflicts of interest at the charities.
“We’re actively examining these matters with the charities’ trustees to determine our next steps,” a spokesperson for the commission said.
“As regulator, if we find evidence of wrongdoing, we take robust action using the powers available to us.”
Meanwhile, the archbishop of Wales, Andrew John, resigned from his post on Friday.
Six serious incident reports
In October 2024, John commissioned a visitation of Bangor Cathedral and an external review to assess concerns that had been brought to his attention.
He asked Christian safeguarding charity thirtyone:eight to look at the quality of life, faith, discipline, behaviour and culture of the cathedral.
Its report, published in April, details “a culture in which sexual boundaries seemed blurred, and to some in their view promiscuity was acceptable”.
It also identifies “a lack of confidence in those with authority”, “an unhappy working environment” and “an individualistic and siloed culture” among other things.
Following a recent discussion on financial record keeping and procedures at a meeting, Bangor Cathedral’s trustee body decided to send an SIR to the Charity Commission.
“This follows five SIRs which were sent to the Charity Commission relating to Bangor Cathedral in 2024,” the Church in Wales said in a statement.
“Four of these related to safeguarding: three have been closed. The remaining report remains open as the commissioning and undertaking of the visitation/safeguarding audit was one of the necessary responses.
“The commission has been updated following the publication of the report summaries and we’ll update the commission further on the implementation of the recommendations.
“The fifth report related to a financial matter and was closed in March this year.”
Archbishop of Wales steps down
In light of the visitation and safeguarding audit, an implementation group was established to implement recommendations in full, while an oversight board was created to oversee and scrutinise the work of the former and support a new dean.
In a statement published last week, Medwin Hughes, chair of the oversight board, said: “There’s much to do to ensure that lasting changes are made and thoroughly embedded into the life and culture of Bangor Cathedral.”
John said the reports reveal “shortcomings and poor organisational practice which shouldn’t have occurred”.
“I deeply regret that they happened under my episcopate and I recognise I ought to have done more to ensure such failings did not occur,” he said.
“I also take full responsibility that I did not address these matters quickly enough.”
On 27 June, John announced his decision to immediately retire as archbishop of Wales, adding that he also intends to retire as bishop of Bangor on 31 August.
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