The Church of England’s plans to allocate £100 million toward a slavery reparations scheme have sparked significant controversy, with critics accusing the Church Commissioners of poor judgment and disputing the historical basis for the project.

Known as Project Spire, or the Fund for Healing, Repair and Justice, the initiative aims to address the Church’s historic financial ties to slavery. The Commissioners announced that their endowment, Queen Anne’s Bounty, had profited from the slave trade, prompting the creation of a fund that will disburse grants to businesses and community projects over the next nine years. The Church’s longer-term goal is to expand the fund to £1 billion to support reparative justice initiatives.

However, the project has drawn criticism from politicians, historians, and church members. Conservative shadow Home Office minister Katie Lam described the scheme as driven by ideology and detached from both legal and historical realities. Lam argued that money intended for clergy and local parishes is being diverted to what she called a “politically fashionable reparations scheme” based on discredited research. She added that most Anglican churchgoers prefer that the funds remain within their local churches rather than be used for reparations.

The backlash intensified after several Members of Parliament and peers wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Sarah Mullally, in December, urging her to halt the fund. The archbishop declined to suspend the initiative.

Opposition groups, including Save the Parish and History Reclaimed, have launched a legal challenge questioning the research underpinning Project Spire. Among the critics is Professor Richard Dale, a historian who described the Church leaders’ narrative as “demonstrably false.” He cited “incontrovertible evidence” that Queen Anne’s Bounty’s investments did not earn money from the slave trade.

In response, Church Commissioners rejected the criticisms as false and affirmed their confidence in the research supporting the fund. They emphasized that no dioceses would lose financial support as a result of the scheme and that the £100 million would come from income generated by the Church Commissioners' assets—not from parishioners’ donations.

The Church has clarified that the fund will not provide direct payments to descendants of enslaved people but will focus on grant-making to support community and business initiatives connected to reparative justice.

As the dispute continues, the Church faces growing tensions between its leadership’s commitment to reparations and the concerns of parishioners, politicians, and historians questioning both the scheme’s historical accuracy and its financial implications for local churches.