What Do I Need to Provide as Church of England Redress Evidence?
For many survivors, this is the question that stops everything. What is classed as Church of England Redress evidence, and what do I need in order to apply?
You may have carried what happened for years, and the moment you think about applying, a voice says: I have no proof. No police report. No witnesses. Nothing on paper. So why would anyone believe me now?
To make an application under the Church of England Redress Scheme, the only things you must provide are proof of who you are, proof of your address, and your own account of what happened. Everything else is optional, and much of the gathering is done for you, not by you.
This page explains the standard the scheme applies, what helps, what happens when records are gone or people have died, and who does the finding. Take it at your own pace and come back another time if that is easier.
If at any point you would rather talk to someone independent of any claim, the support organisations listed near the foot of this page are there for that. They are free, confidential, and entirely separate from Winston Solicitors and from the Church of England.
A Note About Rules & Measures
Please note that all rules and measures quoted were accurate at time of publication. These are subject to change in line with the Church of England Redress Scheme updates as the General Synod makes revisions ahead of the Scheme going live.
What Does the Scheme Actually Require you to Send?
The Redress Scheme requires two things as well as your account of what happened. The rules require an application to be accompanied by:
- evidence of your identity, and
- evidence of your postal address.
That is the whole of the mandatory list. Your account of the abuse is given in your application, verified by a statement of truth, and anything beyond that is included only if you consider it relevant.
Survivors are so often told, or tell themselves, that a claim needs a file of documents before it can begin. The law says otherwise, and we have put the exact wording underneath so you can see that in the scheme’s own words.
Where This Comes from in the Rules
“The application must be accompanied by: (a) evidence of the applicant’s identity (including, if the applicant’s name has changed since the abuse took place, evidence of the change of name sufficient to satisfy the redress body), and (b) evidence of the applicant’s postal address.”
“The application may be accompanied by any other material, in any form, which the applicant considers relevant to the application.”
Rule 3(4) and Rule 3(5), Abuse Redress Rules 2025.
Note the words “in any form”. A letter, a diary, a photograph, a recording, a note you made years later. The scheme does not demand a particular format, and it does not set a minimum.
The amount of evidence you have is not the same as whether you are eligible to apply. The scheme has its own rules about who can claim, which we explain on our Who Can Claim? page.
What Standard of Proof Does the Scheme Use?
The Redress Scheme decides applications using the balance of probabilities. In simple terms, this means the Redress Body considers all the information available and decides whether it is more likely than not that the abuse happened.
This is the same legal standard used in civil cases. It is different from the much higher standard used in criminal courts, where guilt must be proved beyond reasonable doubt.
Where this comes from in the Measure
“The standard of proof on which an application for redress is to be determined is the balance of probabilities.”
Section 10(3)Abuse Redress Measure 2025.
That difference matters because many survivors have little or no documentary evidence. Abuse may never have been reported, records may have been lost, or the person responsible may have died many years ago. None of those things automatically prevent someone from making a successful application.
Your own account of what happened is evidence. The Redress Body will consider your statement alongside any other information that is available before reaching its decision.
Do I Need a Police Report or a Conviction?
No. You do not need to have reported the abuse to the police, and the person responsible does not need to have been convicted for you to apply to the Church of England Redress Scheme.
The Measure makes this clear. Whether the abuse was reported to the police, a local authority, or anyone within the Church, and whether the person responsible was ever convicted of an offence, does not affect your entitlement to apply for redress.
Where this comes from in the Measure
“The entitlement to redress on the application is not affected by: (a) whether a matter to which the application relates was reported to the police or a local authority; (b) whether a matter to which the application relates was reported to a person specified as suitable for that purpose in guidance issued by the House of Bishops or the code of practice issued under section 5A of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2016; (c) whether the person by or in respect of whom the application is made has been convicted of an offence.”
Section 10(5), Abuse Redress Measure 2025.
This recognises the reality that many survivors never felt able to report what happened at the time. Others did speak out but were not believed, or no action was taken. The scheme has been designed with those experiences in mind, so the absence of a police report or criminal conviction does not prevent someone from applying.
What supporting information helps a redress application?
You do not need to provide all of these. In many cases, your own account of what happened is the starting point. If other information is available, it can help the Redress Body build a fuller picture of your experiences.
Examples include:
- Church records, such as parish registers, diocesan files, safeguarding records, clergy appointment records, or choir and youth group records.
- School or children's home records, where the abuse took place in a Church of England school or home.
- Medical records or GP notes, whether they were created at the time or many years later.
- Counselling or therapy records, if you choose to share them. That decision is always yours.
- Personal items, such as letters, diaries, photographs, certificates or service sheets.
- The names of people you told about the abuse, even if you only felt able to tell someone many years later.
- Information showing how the abuse has affected your life, such as your education, employment or health.
You do not have to gather all of this on your own. If you ask Winston Solicitors to help you with your application, we will work with you to identify what information may be available and what is likely to be most helpful in your circumstances.
The effect the abuse has had on your life can also be relevant when the Redress Body calculates an award. The statutory framework in Schedule 1 of the Abuse Redress Rules 2025 sets out awards ranging from £5,000 to £660,000, which we explain in more detail on our Compensation Amounts page.
If you would like an early indication of where your application might sit, you can also use our Church of England Redress Scheme Compensation Calculator. It is free to use, asks for no contact details, stores no personal information, and runs entirely in your browser.
What If Records Were Destroyed, or the Person Who Abused You Has Died?
Many survivors worry that too much time has passed for them to apply. Schools may have closed, records may have been lost, and the person responsible may have died many years ago.
The Church of England Redress Scheme has been designed with that in mind. Much of the abuse it covers happened decades ago, so these situations are expected rather than unusual.
If the person who abused you has died, you can still apply. Your application does not depend on them being alive or able to respond. The Redress Body considers all the information that is available before reaching a decision. It does not need an admission from the person responsible, or for them to take part in the process.
The same applies if records have been lost or destroyed. There is no rule saying that a particular document must exist before an application can succeed. Instead, the Redress Body looks at all the available information together before deciding your application.
There is also no time limit based on when the abuse happened. The scheme has its own application window once it opens, which we explain on our Time Limits page.
Can the Redress Body Find Evidence Itself?
Yes. One part of the scheme that many people are unaware of is that the Redress Body has the power to ask organisations for relevant information and records.
The Measure places Church bodies under a duty to cooperate with the Redress Body. It also allows the Redress Body to require Church authorities, and in some cases other organisations or individuals who hold relevant information, to provide documents, records or written statements.
Where this Comes from in the Measure
“The redress body may for the purposes of this Measure by notice require an appropriate authority or some other person (but not an applicant for redress) to provide it on or before the date specified with: (a) information, documents, objects or other items of evidence; (b) evidence in the form of a written statement.”
Section 26(2), Abuse Redress Measure 2025. The duty on Church authorities to cooperate with information sharing is in Section 26(1).
This means these powers are aimed at organisations that hold information, not at survivors.
You cannot be required to search for documents or produce records you do not have. Where information is available, the Redress Body has powers to obtain it from the organisations that hold it.
Will I Have to Give Church of England Redress Evidence in Person?
No. Applying to the Church of England Redress Scheme does not involve going to court, giving evidence in a witness box or being cross-examined.
The Redress Body reaches its decision using the information available to it. It considers your application, any supporting material, any information it has requested from others, and any expert advice obtained during the process. It is not deciding whether anyone is guilty of a criminal offence or legally liable in a civil claim.
Leave Section 10 quotation exactly as written.
If the Redress Body needs more information from you, it must ask for it in writing and give you time to respond under Rule 9(1) of the Abuse Redress Rules 2025.
You decide how much detail to include in your account, and if you ask Winston Solicitors to help with your application, we will prepare it with you at a pace that feels manageable.
The Measure also makes clear that applicants should be treated with dignity, respect and compassion throughout the process. You can read more about those principles on our About the Scheme page, or find out what happens at each stage on our How the Scheme Works page.
Stacey on the evidence question survivors ask most
“Almost every survivor I speak to starts with some version of, it would just be my word,” says Stacey Flegg, Head of Church of England Redress Scheme at Winston Solicitors. “Two answers matter here. First, your word is evidence. The Measure lists your account as the first thing the redress body decides on, and the test is more likely than not, not proof beyond doubt. Second, the strongest material in these cases is very often material the survivor has never seen. Diocesan files, safeguarding records, school registers. Section 26 gives the redress body the power to demand those from the Church, and part of my job is knowing which records exist and what to ask for. People spend years believing they have no case because they have no paperwork. The paperwork was rarely theirs to hold in the first place.”
Winston Solicitors specialises in the Church of England Redress Scheme. Our team has studied the Measure, the draft Rules and the statutory guidance in detail, giving us a thorough understanding of how applications will be assessed and how awards will be calculated.
Support that is Independent of Any Claim
Thinking about evidence can mean revisiting things you have worked hard to put away. If you want to talk to someone right now, separately from any decision about a claim, the following organisations are there for that. They are independent of Winston Solicitors and independent of the Church of England.
- Samaritans. Free, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Call 116 123 from any phone in the UK, or email jo@samaritans.org.
- NAPAC, the National Association for People Abused in Childhood. Free support line for adult survivors of any form of childhood abuse. Call 0808 801 0331 or visit napac.org.uk.
- Safe Spaces. The Church of England and Catholic Church’s joint independent support service for survivors of church-related abuse. Confidential, and run independently of the Church’s own processes. Call 0300 303 1056 or visit safespacesenglandandwales.org.uk.
You do not need to be considering an application to use any of these services. They are there because the harm matters, whether or not you ever take a legal step.
When You are Ready
If the evidence question has been the thing holding you back, we hope this page has loosened its grip a little. When you want to talk any of it through, Stacey Flegg, Head of Church of England Redress Scheme at Winston Solicitors, will speak with you in your own time. That first conversation is free, and nothing about it commits you to a claim. The timing is yours, and so is the decision.
Winston Solicitors works with survivors of Church-related abuse from across England and Wales, with over 4,000 five-star reviews across the firm’s wider work. That first conversation can include an honest read on what records are likely to exist in your case and what the redress body could be asked to obtain, in plain English, before you decide on anything.
The questions below are the ones survivors most often raise about evidence specifically. For broader questions on eligibility, cost, time, and how the scheme compares to a civil claim, see our scheme FAQ hub.
Reviewed by Stacey Flegg, Head of Church of England Redress Scheme at Winston Solicitors. Last reviewed: 5 July 2026.
Not as a matter of course. Your application does not require the abuser’s participation, and their silence does not stop a decision being made. The Measure allows for a narrow power for the redress body to request information from the person identified as the abuser, or from a surviving relative if that person has died, exercisable where there are reasonable grounds to believe the request will help determine the application (Section 7(10) and 7(11), Abuse Redress Measure 2025).
No. Approximate periods, descriptions of places, and partial names are normal in applications about events from many years ago. Your solicitor helps you anchor what you do remember against records such as school years, clergy appointments, or family addresses, so precision the memory cannot supply can come from elsewhere.
Honest gaps and mistakes of memory are expected in applications like these. The statement of truth you sign means your account is honest to the best of your knowledge. The rules allow the redress body to require repayment where a payment was made in error or where someone knowingly provided false information (Rules 14(7) and 14(8), Abuse Redress Rules 2025); misremembering a date decades on is neither of those things.
What you share in support of your own application is your choice, and your solicitor will discuss with you whether records such as counselling notes would help before anything is requested. A notice requiring anyone else, such as a health body or counselling service, to hand over material has no effect where complying would breach data protection law (Section 26(6), Abuse Redress Measure 2025).
Time can be extended. If requested material is not provided in the first period, the redress body must send a written notice with a further period, and it has a general power to extend the time limits in the Rules where it considers that necessary (Rule 9(2) and Rule 29, Abuse Redress Rules 2025). You can also pause your application entirely, which is covered on our how the scheme works page.
Being disbelieved does not weaken your application. The opposite can be true. The way the Church responded, including a failure to act on a report, is one of the aggravating factors that can increase an award, explained on our compensation amounts page. If any record of that report survives, tell your solicitor; it is not a requirement.
Yes. A civil court claim runs through litigation, with formal disclosure, expert evidence, and the possibility of a trial, and it faces limitation rules the scheme does not have. Winston Solicitors advises on the scheme route only, not on civil claims; for civil advice you should speak to an independent specialist civil claims solicitor in England and Wales. Our scheme versus civil claim page compares the two routes.
We do the gathering with you, not the other way round. That means identifying which records are likely to exist, framing what the redress body should be asked to obtain under its Section 26 powers, preparing your account with you, and handling every exchange with the scheme. If your application succeeds, your solicitor’s costs are met through the scheme and not deducted from your award; the detail lives on our legal costs page. Winston Solicitors supports survivors across England and Wales.
Yes. You can provide further material while your application is being determined, and the redress body can request more from you or from others as it goes. If significant new information comes to light after a decision, the Measure allows the application to be reconsidered, explained on our how the scheme works page.
