STAFF AT the Church of England have claimed that they were paid off to “buy their silence” after complaining of racism, the BBC’s Panorama programme has revealed.

Former Church race-relations adviser Dr Elizabeth Henry said that some staff members had to sign non-disclosure agreements.

She left her position last year after seven years in the job, claiming that she felt “disillusioned.”

“I felt frustrated by the lack of progress with issues of racism,” she told Panorama.

“A really shocking incident was a young black man who received a picture of a banana, but that banana had his head superimposed upon it and underneath it said, ‘Bananaman’.

“That is a deeply offensive and deeply racist image.

“He took it to HR [human resources department] and he did file a grievance – and the decision was that it was not racist.

“That person left and he received a very small compensation – however, he was forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement.”

It is reported that one in 25 of the church’s serving clergy belongs to an ethnic minority background.

In 2016, Hartlepool curate Michelle Delves, who featured on the programme and is of mixed heritage, enrolled at Durham Bible college Cranmer Hall.

“When I got there, I’ve just never felt as black and poor – I felt like I’d landed on an alien planet,” she said.

“The thing that really scares the pants off me about this institutional racism is that you don’t know it’s happening to you.”

She claims that she was frequently ignored and treated differently, and that when she complained, felt no-one was listening to her.

Michelle eventually wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury addressing her concerns.

In response, his office described the “anger” of hearing about her experiences, adding that “much more needs to be done about institutional racism in the Church.”

Cranmer Hall told the BBC programme that they were “deeply sorry and saddened” to hear of Michelle’s experience and said they were unable to investigate while she had been enrolled because she had not made a formal complaint.

However, they said that the college would “explore her concerns thoroughly.”

Over the past 35 years, there have been 20 reports analysing racism in the church. More than 160 recommendations.

Speaking on the disparities, Archbishop of York, the Most Rev Stephen Cottrell, told BBC Panorama: “It is simply the case that ethnic-minority people are under-represented and disadvantaged in many of the structures and systems of our Church.”

The Church told the programme that it could no comment on individual cases but “any [racist] behaviour of the sort described by their race-relations adviser is “unacceptable.”

It added confidentiality agreements were used only “in exceptional circumstances” where open processes “may not have reached resolution.”