UK Chaplain Wins Settlement After Firing Over LGBTQ Sermon

After a seven-year legal ordeal that reached the highest levels of Britain’s employment judiciary, Rev. Dr. Bernard Randall, a Church of England chaplain fired for delivering a sermon on LGBTQ issues at a Christian school, has secured a confidential settlement with his former employer and cleared his name from the church’s safeguarding blacklist.

The Sermon That Sparked a Legal Firestorm

Randall served as chaplain at Trent College, an independent Church of England school in Derbyshire, for five years. In 2018, he grew alarmed when the school partnered with Educate and Celebrate (E&C), an external LGBTQ training group whose stated mission was to “smash heteronormativity” and embed queer theory throughout the school culture. According to Fox News, Randall raised concerns with senior leadership but was rebuffed.

The following year, after a student questioned why pupils were required to accept LGBTQ ideology at a Christian school, Randall delivered a chapel sermon titled “Competing Ideologies.” He told students they were entitled to hold traditional Christian beliefs on marriage and biological sex while emphasizing respect for those with differing views.

Escalation: Suspension, Prevent Referral, and Blacklisting

The sermon triggered immediate and severe consequences. School administrators suspended Randall, launched an investigation, and reported him to Prevent, the UK government’s counterterrorism program. The Diocese of Derby also blacklisted him as a safeguarding risk to children—a designation that effectively barred him from ministry.

Prevent ultimately determined that Randall posed no terrorist threat, and the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) cleared him within a single day. Yet the Church of England’s own safeguarding process would take nearly seven years to reach the same conclusion.

As Christian Concern reported, Randall was fired for gross misconduct, reinstated on appeal under strict conditions censoring his sermon topics, furloughed during the pandemic, and ultimately made redundant on December 31, 2020.

A Tortuous Legal Path

Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, Randall brought claims of discrimination, harassment, victimisation, and unfair dismissal. In February 2023, an Employment Tribunal presided over by Judge Victoria Butler and lay member Jed Purkis dismissed all of his claims. A BBC News report from the time noted that the judge found the school’s redundancy process “genuine and reasonable.”

The case took a dramatic turn in March 2024 when Purkis’s anti-Christian social media posts were discovered. Judge Butler recused the entire panel, and Purkis received a formal rebuke for misconduct.

In February 2025, the Court of Appeal issued a landmark ruling in the parallel Kristie Higgs case, establishing important precedent for Christian freedom in the workplace. Building on that ruling, Randall’s appeal began in March 2025 on thirteen grounds. Judge James Tayler ruled the original judgment “unsafe” and ordered a retrial, with Trent College ordered to pay £20,000 in costs. Shortly afterward, a confidential legal settlement was reached.

Church of England’s Safeguarding Failure

Perhaps the most disturbing dimension of the case was the Church of England’s treatment of its own minister. Despite CofE bishops declaring in 2021 that Randall’s sermon contained “nothing outside the doctrine and teaching of the Church of England,” the Diocese of Derby maintained its safeguarding blacklisting for years.

An independent review by the Diocese of London finally cleared Randall of all allegations, ruling the concerns were “unsubstantiated” and finding no evidence of harm. The secular LADO had taken just one day; the Church of England took nearly seven years.

Randall is now eligible for Permission to Officiate, but Bishop of Derby Libby Lane has not yet granted it. The Diocese has said it is “happy to continue supporting Dr Randall’s potential return to ministry.”

Broader Implications

The Randall case exposes how safeguarding processes, equality policies, and LGBTQ ideology can be weaponized against orthodox Christian belief in the UK. Educate and Celebrate, the training organization at the heart of the dispute, was quietly closed by the Charity Commission amid scandal. One of its patrons, Stephen Ireland, was jailed for 24 years for child sex offences including the rape of a 12-year-old boy.

Speaking about his ordeal, Randall reflected on the personal cost: “Seven years have been taken from me for doing my duty as a CofE chaplain in a school with a CofE ethos. I encouraged pupils to think, to debate, and to love their neighbours whatever they believed. No minister, teacher or chaplain should be punished for upholding Christian teaching in a Christian setting.”

What’s Next

Randall has completed mandatory safeguarding training and is pushing to return to public ministry. Whether Bishop Lane grants him Permission to Officiate remains an open question. Meanwhile, the case adds to growing international scrutiny of religious freedom in the United Kingdom, with U.S. officials including Vice President JD Vance raising concerns about restrictions on speech and belief.

Andrea Williams, CEO of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “Bernard’s case exposes how easily safeguarding process, equality policies and extreme transgender ideology can be misused to silence Christian beliefs. Schools, churches and public bodies must learn from this case and protect, rather than punish, lawful Christian expression.”