Uniting Church joins child abuse redress scheme

The Uniting Church of Australia has opted into the government’s $3.8bn National ­Redress Scheme for child abuse survivors.

The Uniting Church has revealed that 430 ­allegations of child abuse had been made to its synods between 1977 and 2017.

The Uniting Church of Australia has become the latest religious group to opt into the government’s $3.8 billion national ­redress scheme for child abuse survivors.

The announcement yesterday came a week after the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church of Australia, the Salvation Army, Scouts Australia and the YMCA joined the compensation program set up in the wake of the royal commission.

Uniting Church president Stuart McMillan said all seven state synods had voted in favour of joining the redress scheme, though Western Australia’s involvement depends on the state government signing up.

“We acknowledge the impact of child sexual abuse in the lives of those who have been abused in our institutions or those of our predecessor churches. To each survivor and all of their families, I am truly sorry,” Mr McMillan said.

“It is our sincere hope that this National Redress Scheme will allow survivors of institutional child sexual abuse to ­access support to help them in their lives.”

The Uniting Church will set up a single legal entity to deal with redress scheme claims.

The church revealed during the royal commission that 430 ­allegations of child abuse had been made to its synods between 1977 and 2017 — 102 of them had led to claims for redress.

The scheme will cover about 60,000 institutional child sexual abuse survivors nationally, with compensation payments capped at $150,000.

Social Services Minister Dan Tehan said 80 per cent of survivors were covered after last week’s signing.

The Uniting Church was formed in 1977 when Methodist and some Presbyterian churches merged.