Bullying claims: ‘harassment’ at HQ

The Church of Scotland was hit by allegations of bullying at its headquarters yesterday as the General Assembly got under way.

A survey of more than 200 staff largely based at the Kirk’s administrative offices at George Street, Edinburgh, found what the Church admitted was a “surprisingly significant percentage of people experiencing bullying”.

The findings came after senior management and union officials at Unite called in the government conciliation service Acas to conduct an anonymous staff satisfaction survey amid claims employees feel they could not speak openly about their concerns.

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But a Church spokesman said last night the survey had indicated that the majority of staff were satisfied with their jobs, felt their job was secure, shared the values of the Church of Scotland and felt loyal to the organisation.

There had been “no reported incidents of bullying or harassment in the past 12 months”, and “no staff dismissals resulting from any disciplinary actions”.

The spokesman said bullying and harassment were a cause for concern and that senior management would take “the necessary action to address this”.