Lewisham council and UCKG: survivor's complaint dismissed, but safeguarding concerns remain

Abuse survivor Rachael Reign raised a complaint against Lewisham council in May 2025 alleging that councillor Kim Powell and mayor Brenda Dacres had failed to follow the council's code of conduct in their dealings with the United Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG).

Reign was approached by the church at the age of 13 and progressed to a senior role as "assistant". After eight years, she managed to leave and later started a support group for others who had left the church, Surviving Universal UK.

Survivors describe UCKG as a cult exerting coercive control over its members, practicing exorcisms (termed 'deliverance') and conversion therapy on LGBTQ+ members, alongside constant pressure to donate money.

Powell is employed by UCKG as a community outreach manager and she is also a Labour councillor for Hither Green ward.

'Disrespect to lived experience of survivors'

In September 2024, Liam Shrivastava, at the time a Labour councillor, now a Green, emailed Dacres copying all councillors, to raise his concerns about the plan to include UCKG in the annual Lewisham interfaith walk.

Shrivastava said that UCKG was highly controversial, it had already been the subject of a BBC Panorama programme regarding child safeguarding and "strong prayers" and had been accused of "financial exploitation, spiritual abuse and 'conversion therapy'".

He added that the church was under investigation by the Charity Commission over potential safeguarding issues.

"I believe that the decision (for the interfaith walk) to stop at the UCKG is an error of judgment that puts the integrity of local public bodies at risk and I would urge that this be reconsidered," he said.

Dacres replied, saying that the Interfaith Walk was "an event organised by the Lewisham Interfaith Forum and not the council .. therefore the route and the stops for this event have been decided by faith leaders."

Shivastava responded that he still believed the partnership was inappropriate and did not "respect the lived experience of survivors of spiritual abuse and exploitation" and he could no longer "in good conscience" participate.

Powell then replied to Shrivastava, using her Lewisham council email address and copying all councillors. In a long defence of UCKG, she said "As the Community Outreach Manager for the UCKG in Catford, I can assure you that we
have been pivotal in serving the community .."

She went on to deny accusations of conversion therapy and other abuse.

The walk went ahead the following Sunday, advertising Lewisham Council and the Metropolitan Police as its partners.

Reign told the investigators that following the walk, she decided she must hold whoever was responsible to account.

She reached out to the chair of the interfaith forum, Bishop of Southwark, Alastair Cutting, who met with her and Shrivastava to understand her concerns.

Following that meeting, the bishop made a formal apology, saying that he deeply regretted the distress caused to victims.

In January 2025, councillor Hau-Yu Tam raised concerns about Powell's influence within the council, the inclusion of UCKG in the interfaith walk in September 2024 and then its nomination for a mayor's award in October 2024.

Tam pointed out that the nomination gave UCKG an opportunity to promote its relationship with the council on social media.

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At the time, Tam was an independent and the only opposition to the Labour controlled council, she has since joined the Green Party.

Tam asked whether the Dacres would make a similar apology to the bishop's.

Dacres later confirmed to the investigators that when she met with Reign in December 2024, she had recognised that Reign wanted an apology from the council but, they reported, "she did not consider this appropriate or necessary".

The controversy at the council was widely reported across national and local media and following the allegations, Powell resigned from her cabinet position, but remained as a councillor.

Walk sent 'damaging message to those who have been abused ..'

Later that year, Reign raised her complaint to the council, saying that "UCKG being involved in a public event sent a very damaging and invalidating message to those who have been abused within the church ..

"The UCKG made it appear that Lewisham council were allies."

She repeated her request for an apology from Dacres "standing in solidarity with survivors of abuse, and making it clear that (the council) do not endorse the UCKG."

The complaint was handled by ch&i Associates, an independent firm which investigates allegations against councillors. One consultant had been a police detective for 21 years prior to joining.

Their account of the meeting between Reign and Dacres in December 2024 shows them at cross-purposes, Reign requesting an apology from Dacres, and Dacres expecting to treat Reign's concerns as a safeguarding issue.

Dacres told investigators: "We want to make sure that residents know we are a place where you can come with safeguarding issues .. I don't want to specify an organisation, like UCKG, because for me it does not matter where it happens ..

"I felt (the survivors' group) were doing us a disservice by saying that the council's safeguarding team couldn't be trusted."

The investigators explain to readers of their report that the code of conduct only applies when councillors are acting in their capacity as councillors, and warning that "behaviour that might be regarded as reprehensible and even unlawful is not necessarily covered by the code."

They continue that while an individual's employment or conduct "may be distasteful to some, this is a matter for the ballot box, not regulatory intervention".

Lewisham council standards subcommittee met on 25 February to review the outcome of the investigation.

Tam asked why the bishop of Southwark and Shrivastava were not interviewed, and was told it was important that the investigation was "light touch and cost effective."

Following private discussion, councillors returned to say a majority had agreed the recommendation of the investigators and did not uphold the complaint.

Councillor James Rathbone asked for legal guidance regarding a councillor who had said they viewed their role on the committee as advocating for the complainant (survivor) and the council's legal representative confirmed that this was not part of their role.

However, this procedural error highlighted a uncomfortable issue with both the investigation and the committee meeting - the clear and major imbalance in power and resources between the complainant and the council.

The investigators and the independent legal advisor knocked back Reign's complaint on technical grounds of failing to reach the threshold of a breach of the code of conduct, but admitted that they offered nothing to address the survivors' concerns.

Shrivastava told Salamander: "Despite what the UCKG and Councillor Powell may claim, there is clear evidence of a conflict of interest between her role as a councillor and at the Church.

"As well as using her influence to have the UCKG included on an interfaith walk, when I raised concerns, Councillor Powell chose to use her council email to defend the multiple allegations against the UCKG in a message to all councillors including the Mayor. 

"For her to claim she keeps both roles separate is provably false.

"The fact that the Standards committee and investigating officers appear to have failed to consider this evidence is yet another example of the council's serious governance failings."

Lewisham council confirmed that Powell and Dacres have not made any statement about the investigation via the council.

Powell issued her statement as part of a UCKG Press Release, saying:

“This has been a deeply challenging period for me personally. I am relieved that the matter has now been formally concluded.

"The independent investigation and Standards Sub-Committee have confirmed that I did not breach the Code of Conduct and that no further action is required."

“I remain fully committed to serving the local community through my work and to continuing to support residents with integrity, transparency and dedication.

In a sign of the close attention that UCKG is giving to the case, Bishop Allan Passos, the church's most senior figure in the UK, is then quoted in the press release, repeating the sentiment.

Survivor Rachael Reign said: “While the Standards Committee concluded that Councillor Kim Powell did not breach Lewisham Council’s Code of Conduct, that finding addresses only a narrow procedural question.

"The safeguarding concerns about Lewisham Council’s relationship with the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God — including the roles of both Kim Powell and Mayor Brenda Dacres — remain unresolved. 

"Surviving Universal UK will continue to challenge behaviour that risks legitimising harmful organisations such as the UCKG.”

UCKG was started in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1977 by Edir Macedo who took over tv company RecordTV in 1989. The church broadcasts via cable and radio across the countries it operates in.

It spread rapidly to the USA, across the Caribbean and South America, to Portugal and then across Europe and from Angola across Africa.

It now has at least 38 churches across the UK, including the branch in Catford and another three across south London.

Concerns about the church's presence in the UK were first raised in 2002, following the horrific child abuse and murder of eight-year-old Victoria Climbié.

In 2022, the Guardian began investigating allegations of abuse and in 2023, BBC Panorama broadcast the Billionaire Bishop and the Global Megachurch.

The Charities Commission has run two investigations into the church, and in February 2026, the Fundraising Regulator found that UCKG had breached the fundraising code in soliciting donations from vulnerable members.

UCKG is registered in the UK as a charity which means it can claim taxpayer funded gift aid on donations. In the year 2024/25, it reported over £13m received in donations and paid no tax.

Thank you to Luís Lago for research.

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