Calls for an independent mediation service to deal with the handling of sexual abuse claims are growing – and not just from the government (MPs fear more sleaze claims will emerge, 30 October). The Church of England has for too long been its own arbitrator and judge in matters like these, which, as Dame Moira Gibb highlighted in her report into the church’s handling of the Bishop Peter Ball case, is part of the problem rather than the solution.

Abuse of power, particularly in relation to sexual misdemeanours, will never be dealt with by those within the same said power structures. The urge to protect one’s reputation is too strong, as is the human inclination to believe one’s “mates” rather than an unknown protagonist set on “causing trouble”. We must look above and beyond the establishment – but to where?

I suggest that wherever we turn, it must be to a group of women – solely. Make no mistake, the instances of sexual abuse and harassment within the church are manifold – at virtually every level of the hierarchy. The need for a trusted group to whom we can report names is urgent. It will only be by seeing the pattern of particular names as they emerge that we will finally be able to do something. For this we need complete confidence, and for that we need no risk of compromise.

Jayne Ozanne

Elected lay member of the general synod for the diocese of Oxford