Rev Bernard Randall, a chaplain dismissed by Trent College in 2019 after delivering a sermon about LGBT inclusivity programmes, has reached a confidential out-of-court settlement. The agreement follows a successful appeal at the Employment Appeal Tribunal, concluding a seven-year legal battle over workplace rights and Christian teaching.
A former school chaplain who used a sermon to tell pupils they did not have to believe in “LGBT stuff” has resolved his long-running legal dispute with Trent College in Long Eaton, Derbyshire. Rev Bernard Randall was originally dismissed by the fee-paying boarding school in 2019, just two months after delivering the address to students aged between 11 and 17. Advocacy group Christian Concern confirmed that an out-of-court agreement had been reached following years of tribunal battles and administrative challenges.
The Sermon, the Classroom Programme, and the 2019 Dismissal
The controversy began when Trent College implemented an inclusivity framework devised by the charity Educate and Celebrate. Randall told the tribunal that he opposed parts of the initiative because he believed elements of the programme were Marxist, revolutionary, atheist and incompatible with Christian values. He specifically objected to terminology such as sex assigned at birth
and cisgender
, arguing that the charity went beyond a neutral stance of inclusivity into the implantation of ideas I consider to be identity politics.
The sermon itself was prompted by a sixth-form student who asked: Sir, how come we are told we have to accept all this LGBT stuff in a Christian school? Randall incorporated that question into his June 2019 address, telling the congregation, You do not have to accept the ideas of LGBT activists.
He said he was inspired to write the sermon, delivered in June 2019 to pupils aged between 11 and 17, after he was asked by a sixth-form pupil whether Sir, how come we are told we have to accept all this LGBT stuff in a Christian school?, as noted by Rev Bernard Randall, via BBC.
While Christian Concern maintained that Randall’s sermon merely reflected official Church of England teaching on marriage, the address drew immediate complaints from pupils, parents, and staff members who reported feeling distressed. School leaders removed Randall from his chaplaincy role and referred him to the government counter-terrorism watchdog Prevent. Although an initial appeal overturned his dismissal and left him with a final warning, the school subsequently attempted to reduce his chaplaincy hours to a seven-hour, term-time-only schedule. Randall declined the reduced contract and was made redundant.
Appeals, Regulatory Clearance, and Tribunal Costs
Following his redundancy, Randall pursued legal action through the employment tribunal system. At a hearing in February 2023, a judge ruled that the school’s redundancy process was genuine and reasonable, and found that the Prevent referral was justified from a safeguarding perspective. Bill Penty, the then-head of Trent College, also referred Randall to the Teaching Regulation Authority and the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Both regulatory bodies cleared the chaplain. The Teaching Regulation Authority decided against taking forward a case, while the Disclosure and Barring Service ruled that Randall had no case to answer. Furthermore, an independent investigator concluded they could not establish on the balance of probabilities that harm resulted from the sermons, leading to the determination that the concern was unsubstantiated with no ongoing safeguarding risks. Randall completed mandatory safeguarding training and regained eligibility for permission to officiate in Church of England churches.
The legal momentum shifted in March 2025 when Judge James Tayler, sitting in the Employment Appeal Tribunal, ruled that the original judgment was unsafe and ordered a complete rehearing. Prior to the new tribunal over alleged panel bias, Trent College was ordered to pay Randall approximately £20,000 in costs, paving the way for the confidential settlement.
Reflections on a Seven-Year Ordeal
Reflecting on the conclusion of the case, Randall stated that seven years have been taken from me and noted that his faith and loyalty to the Church has been tested to the extreme. He added that he encouraged students to think, to debate, and to love their neighbours whatever they believed.
Randall told the BBC regarding his time away from active ministry that he did not feel angry and tried not to be, adding that although it was very difficult to forgive, he was working on that. Representatives for Trent College indicated they would offer no further public comment on the resolution.
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