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The Church of England is considering a complaint against the incoming Archbishop of Canterbury over her handling of an abuse allegation.
Dame Sarah Mullally has been accused of improperly handling a complaint against a priest in London, where she currently serves as bishop.
Church authorities said the complaint about her was initially made to Lambeth Palace - the home of the Archbishop of Canterbury - in 2020, but was not followed up due to "administrative errors and an incorrect assumption about the individual's wishes". They said Dame Sarah was not told of the complaint at the time it was made.
She is due to take office on 28 January and said the victim had been "let down".
"While his abuse allegations against a member of clergy were fully dealt with by the Diocese of London, it is clear that a different complaint he subsequently made against me personally in 2020 was not properly dealt with," she said in a statement.
"I am seeking assurance that processes have been strengthened to ensure any complaint that comes into Lambeth Palace is responded to in a timely and satisfactory manner."
Earlier this week the complainant spoke to the Premier Christian website, saying that the way the case was handled had a serious impact on his mental health.
Premier said it had seen evidence that when the complainant filed his original case against an accused priest, Bishop Sarah contacted the priest involved about the allegations, breaching the Church's disciplinary protocols.
The complaint against her was not formally dealt with and Lambeth Palace officials now say that they assumed the complainant no longer wished to proceed but are understood not to have sought confirmation of this with him.
A spokesman for Lambeth Palace said Church authorities had written to the complainant - known as N - to outline the next steps.
"The Bishop of London was unaware of the matter, as the process never reached the stage at which she would have been informed of the complaint or its contents.
"The provincial registrar has apologised to those involved and urgent arrangements are now being made for the complaint to be considered according to the relevant statutory process."
Dame Sarah, a former NHS chief nurse, became a priest in 2006 and was appointed as the first female Bishop of London in 2018 - the third most senior member of clergy in the Church of England.
She was named as the next Archbishop of Canterbury - the first woman to take on the role - in October after Justin Welby resigned over a safeguarding scandal.
He stepped down after a damning report into a prolific child abuser associated with the Church. It found that he "could and should" have reported John Smyth's abuse of boys and young men to police in 2013.
His last day in the role was in January and the Church, as a result, has been without someone in the top job for almost a year. The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, has been taking on most of Mr Welby's responsibilities in an interim move.
Mr Cottrell was one of the voting members of the body charged with choosing his successor. but has himself faced calls to step down over his handling of an abuse case.
