C of E’s historic slavery fund – worth £100m but how far will it stretch across communities?

Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, said it was ‘shameful’ that the Church of England had benefited from slavery. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

The Church of England’s decision to set up a £100m fund for communities adversely affected by historic slavery is the latest – and biggest – step it has taken over the past few years to “address past wrongs” relating to its links to the slave trade.

The report on the origins of the C of E’s healthy £9bn-plus endowment fund correctly describes the 17th century slave trade as “abhorrent” and a source of misery and injustice.