The Jesus Army Compensation Scheme begins for abuse survivors
The Jesus Fellowship Community Trust – otherwise known as the Jesus Army or in this article "the Church" – has today published its long-awaited compensation scheme for survivors of abuse within the now-defunct religious sect.
Originally set up by founder Noel Stanton in Bugbrooke, Northamptonshire, in 1969, the Jesus Army was a cult-like religious movement, which attracted thousands of members who lived together in close-knit, rural communes.
In recent years, allegations of financial, emotional, physical and sexual abuse from both children and adults have surfaced. A number of people have been convicted of carrying out abuse at the Jesus Army, which has since issued an apology.
Abuse survivors now have until the 31st December 2023 to apply to the compensation scheme.
This article examines how the Scheme is likely to work in practice, and compares it against other Schemes, where I have represented survivors of abuse, such as the Lambeth Children’s Homes Redress Scheme.
I should point out that the views that I express on the operation of the Scheme are my own, and they only address particular points. They are no substitute for a thorough reading and understanding of the Scheme itself.
How the Scheme came about
The Church began the process of dissolving itself and selling off its assets around 18 months ago. This process included the implementation of the decision to set up a compensation scheme for victims of abuse, which was undertaken in consultation with the Jesus Fellowship Survivors Association.
In 2018, I was asked by the Association to give advice in relation to the setting up of a compensation scheme for survivors. A number of meetings took place between myself, the Association and the current Church trustees, which proved very positive and led to the current Scheme’s launch today.
The Individual Redress Scheme, the Community Adverse Experience Scheme and Other Schemes
First of all the Scheme is called the “Individual Redress Scheme” – this is to distinguish it from other types of compensation that are on offer from the Jesus Army.
These different types of compensation can be confusing, but for people who were in the Church, they repay reading. Full details are available on the Church’s website
The other types of compensation include:- ?
·???????????????The Payment of historic ‘Relief of Need’
·???????????????Under-21 contribution refunds
·???????????????Additional payments for widows / widowers
·???????????????Inclusion of former Trust members in the apportionment of any residual Trust fund
·???????????????Any Claim for lost/reduced State Pension caused by failure on the part of the client or the JFCT to pay national insurance contributions?
The Individual Redress Scheme is also to be distinguished from the “Community Adverse Experience Scheme”. This Scheme pays out a support grant of ￡500, a capital refund for former Church members and it provides a written apology. ?
The support grant may be increased from ￡500 if sufficient funds remain following payment of the sums due under the other Scheme listed above.??
The Community Adverse Experience Scheme includes a wide range of abusive experiences, such as (for children) witnessing the abuse of others, child labour and (for adult women) “harmful treatment of women as subordinates and/or women suffering detriment and harm through being placed in positions of servitude”. This second example reflects the patriarchal attitude of the Church in the past towards women members. ?
The important point here is that many people who were members of the Church, who suffered abuse from various quarters may find themselves placed in the Community Adverse Experience category, rather than the more generous Individual Redress Scheme, which appears to be directed at “stand out” incidents of abuse. Much may depend on how their claims are presented under the Individual Redress Scheme. ?
There is no provision for legal costs to be paid in relation to a claim under any of these Schemes, save for the Individual Redress Scheme, where a contribution is made in the sum of up to ￡2,500 plus VAT. Practically this means, that the vast majority of people making claims for anything other than Individual Redress will be on their own, unless their claim is substantial enough to pay legal fees out of their compensation. ?
The Individual Redress Scheme – what does it pay? ?
Redress will be made for “Emotional, Physical and Sexual Abuse.” Those covered will have been members of the Church between 14.06.74 and 26.05.19. Redress covers :- ?
·???????????????A written apology ?
·???????????????For Sexual, Physical or Emotional Abuse, an award of compensation for the harm they have suffered, aligned with Common Law Compensation Awards
·???????????????An invitation to meet with a trustee of the Trust to share their story?
The criteria for making a claim are contained in Clause 7 of the Scheme. ?
The first two sub clauses of Clause 7 say:- ?
“The persons entitled to Redress under the IRP Scheme are as follows:?
i) Any person who can establish they are/were a Member and/or a Dependant of a Member
family; and?
ii) There is evidence to show that on the Balance of probabilities he/she/they suffered;
?(a) Emotional Abuse; and/or
(b) Physical Abuse; and/or
(c) Sexual Abuse; and
(d) Recognised psychiatric injury”?
In contrast with the Lambeth Scheme, where “psychological injury” is sufficient on its own to trigger an award, the Jesus Army Scheme requires “recognised psychiatric injury” in addition to emotional, or physical or sexual abuse. As we will see below, the Jesus Army Scheme discourages the employment of an expensive expert psychiatrist, and therefore it is to be hoped that a person’s statement attesting to “recognised psychiatric injury” will be sufficient to trigger an award.??
Sub clauses (iii) and (iv) of Clause 7 say that the abuse must be “perpetrated committed, counselled or instructed by a person at that time engaged in the leadership, management, operation or supervision of the Church and/or Community, whether as a Leader of the Church and/or Community or a person for whom the Trust would be Vicariously Liable.” ?
OR ?
“The Abuse was committed by an individual invited to stay in a Shared Property by a Member in the circumstances where there were inadequate safeguarding measures in place”?
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In relation to the first set of criteria, the Jesus Army had a relatively sophisticated hierarchy, which should in theory catch a wide group of persons who were engaged in what was effectively controlling the Church’s members. Paragraph 9.4 of the Individual Redress Scheme actually sets out a list of people who would be considered to be included. ?
The second set of criteria appears to be aimed at the Church’s practice of putting up people with drug, alcohol and mental health problem in Church houses, where the risk (particularly to children) could be severe. ??
A note at the end of the Tariff makes it clear that child on child abuse will not be compensated, save “where the Abuse had been reported to an adult and insufficient action was taken to prevent further harm/Abuse occurring”?
Directly after that note, the Tariff has a further note :?
“The Trust may be liable for interfamilial Abuse (i.e. Abuse occurring within a family group) –
cases involving such allegations will be considered on a case by case basis.” ?
These notes suggest that certain types of peer on peer and intra familial abuse will be compensated, even though they do not appear to satisfy the criteria in sub clauses 7(iii) and (iv). ?
In terms of the amount of compensation :??
“The assessment of each Individual Redress Payment will take into consideration the following:?
(a) The severity and duration of the Abuse;
(b) The extent of any physical or psychiatric injury caused by the Abuse; and
(c) The extent/cost of any treatment or therapy to address the consequence of the Abuse”?
As with the Lambeth Scheme, the awards for Individual Redress Payments will be calculated by reference to a Tariff. This is a table containing a list of Abuse types and Paragraph 11 of the Scheme says that the most suitable award to the Eligible Applicant will be calculated “by reference to the most severe harm suffered.”?
A note at the end of the Tariff says that “the figure paid will be based upon the most serious event which occurred and not on a cumulative basis.” ?
The Lambeth Scheme used similar wording. Initially it was thought that this might cause a problem, where victims had suffered different types of abuse. However, the provision of a psychiatric report for each applicant meant that awards were generally made on the basis of psychiatric injury, rather than physical acts of abuse. Here, as we are about to see, psychiatric expert evidence appears to be the exception not the rule. ?
However, a note at the end of the Tariff, says:- ?
“There will be an uplift to the relevant figure of up to 20% for Sexual Abuse where more than 5
incidents of Sexual Abuse occurred. Sexual Abuse includes; rape, fellatio, digital penetration,
masturbation and Indecent assault under clothing involving genitalia.” ?
This mitigates to some degree, the injustice of a victim of multiple sexual assaults only being compensated for the “most serious event.”??
Unlike the Lambeth Scheme, where as we have seen an expert psychiatric report in each case is the general rule, the Jesus Army scheme envisages that claims will be decided on the basis of the applicant’s statement. Clause 12 of the Individual Redress Scheme says :?
“Expert evidence will not be sought as a matter of course and will only be obtained after a Scheme
Application Form has been submitted and the Scheme Solicitors have provided a Decision.”?
As with the Lambeth Scheme, a previous civil claim can be taken into account, although in Lambeth a previous compensation claim would simply be treated as an interim payment. With the Jesus Army Scheme, a previous successful claim against the Church debars the applicant from bringing the same claim to the Scheme for the same abuse. ?
The Tariff itself is less detailed than that of Lambeth, which provided for three “bands” and a fourth band to pay for loss of employment and education. The Jesus Army Scheme provides no such award for loss of earnings, only an award for the abuse itself. ?
Briefly corporal punishment is awarded a sum of ￡2,000 up to ￡4,000 dependent on the period that it took place, reflecting the view that corporal punishment was less acceptable as times became more modern. ?
There are two awards for emotional abuse (up to ￡2,000) and physical abuse (up to ￡7,500) “by a person in a position of leadership or by other person in Community following report of previous harm and lack of subsequent safeguarding.” This seems to be aimed at the child or adult who tried to disclose their abuse, and was punished for it. ?
There are then a series of sexual assaults – from indecent assault over clothing – up to ￡4,000 to rape up to ￡50,000. ?
Psychiatric injury is compensated from a baseline of ￡1,500. This part of the Tariff says:?
“Some Eligible Applicants will have suffered psychological stress at the minimum through to psychiatric illness and disorders which may be linked to their experiences in Community. The figure of ￡1,500 is a baseline figure, and can be included in offers to Eligible Applicants who indicate they suffered psychiatric harm. If evidence of prolonged psychiatric injury is provided, increased sums will be offered in accordance with Civil compensation awards.” ?
Given the contents of Clause 12, which forbids the provision of an expert psychiatric report until a decision is made on the application, I would hope that a great many claims may fall within this part of the Tariff. I have already taken a large number of statements from survivors of abuse within the Church, and there is no doubt that many were severely affected psychiatrically by their experiences. The issue will be fitting those experiences within Clauses 7(iii) and (iv) of the Scheme. ?
Comparison with other Schemes?
The Jesus Army Compensation Scheme has some similarities with that of Lambeth Council, but unlike Lambeth Council, this is a trust dissolving itself, and looking to discharge its outstanding liabilities. ?
The Individual Redress and Community Adverse Experience Schemes are less generous than the Lambeth Children’s Home Redress Scheme. In that Scheme, an initial sum of up to ￡10,000 was paid by way of Harm’s Way Payment, and up to ￡125,000 (and sometimes more) would be paid for the Individual Redress Payment. ?
Moreover although Lambeth’s Scheme appeared to restrict payments to those who had been abused by Lambeth’s employees/foster carers, or to those who were victims of Lambeth’s negligence, in reality compensation payments were made that reflected the totality of the survivors’ abusive experience within the homes/foster placements. Both Lambeth’s and the Jesus Army’s Schemes require proof on the “balance of probabilities” but in practice, the Lambeth Scheme did not require any kind of corroboration– the survivor’s account was sufficient and rightly so. By contrast, the Jesus Army’s Scheme is more restrictive, and it isn’t yet clear how much evidence will be needed to back up allegations of abuse.??
In terms of other schemes, the Historical Institutional Abuse Redress Board in Northern Ireland paid a standard award payment of ￡10,000 and an enhanced award payment of between ￡10,001 and ￡80,000. The Windrush Compensation Scheme has made payments in the hundreds of thousands, whilst the Islington Support Payment Scheme pays ￡10,000 per claim. ?
In terms of legal costs, the Windrush Compensation Scheme and the Islington Support Payment Scheme contain no provision for legal costs, whilst the costs under the Historical Institutional Abuse Redress Board in Northern Ireland are very limited indeed. ?
The effect of having no provision for legal costs is to make it very difficult if not impossible for applicants to find lawyers to help them make claims. By contrast the Jesus Army Compensation Scheme provides for “reasonable costs” up to ￡2500 plus VAT. This is somewhat less than the Lambeth Scheme, where legal costs are paid on an agreed hourly rate and (in the writer’s experience) may be paid up to around ￡17,500 for a difficult case. However, it should be borne in mind that in the Lambeth Scheme, there is provision for all applicants to be examined by a psychiatrist jointly instructed by both sides and the production of that applicant’s social services notes. There is also a sophisticated appeal mechanism. ?The Jesus Army Compensation Scheme (which has no appeal mechanism) is designed to encourage the settlement of a claim on the submission of a simple application accompanied by a detailed statement, which arguably could be completed by a junior lawyer (suitably supervised) with the necessary experience and training within that budget.
The Jesus Army Scheme is expressed to provide compensation within a minimum time scale of three months from the date of the application. By contrast, a claim under the Lambeth and Windrush Scheme can take two years or more to complete. ?
In summary, the Jesus Army Compensation Scheme compares favourably with other Schemes. It is clearly designed to be swift and inexpensive, and the actual amounts recoverable may compare favourably with the actual settlements commonly reached in civil child abuse cases, where claims for loss of earnings are notoriously hard to obtain. However, it remains to be seen how it will work in practice. ?
Malcolm Johnson, head of Lime Solicitors’ abuse department, is advising the Jesus Fellowship Survivors Association, which has been set up to support victims of abuse in the church. He acts for more than 50 abuse survivors from the Jesus Army. ?
The deadline for applying to the Individual Redress Scheme is the 31st December 2023. If you were affected by the Jesus Army, email [email protected], call 0207 264 4352 or visit www.limesolicitors.co.uk.