The CofE’s £100m fund is a step in the right direction in making reparations for slavery

When slavery was abolished, Britain allocated 40 per cent of its income to compensate slave traders. The debt was still being repaid by UK taxpayers in 2015, including by many descendants of slavery. This new fund goes a small way to righting that wrong, says Mike Royal

In an effort to “address past wrongs,” the Church Commissioners for England have recently announced that they will invest £100m over the next nine years into community projects specifically aimed at helping families affected by the slave trade.

The Church Commissioners manage a CofE endowment fund whose origins link directly to the Queen Anne’s Bounty. Established in 1704, it has benefited from significant amounts of funding linked to the transatlantic slave trade. Today, it is worth over £9bn.