The Church in Wales has had to call off the annual meeting of its Governing Body due to technical issues. 

The meeting began on Wednesday but had to be halted and adjourned after a few hours because of problems with the software used for registering votes. 

The technical issues meant that no votes taken during the meeting would be valid.

It is hoping to reconvene the meeting online before the end of the year. 

The Archbishop of Wales, John Davies, apologised to members and thanked them for their time and patience. 

He said, "Adjourning this meeting is not a decision we have taken lightly but we feel we cannot continue until the technical problems have been solved by our provider.

"We are not confident that any of the votes that went through in the first session are reliable. We will be looking to reconvene later this year, possible in November."

The delay has affected the launch of the Church's new safeguarding policy, which had been due to take place during the meeting. 

It replaces the existing policy by committing the Church to promoting safer practice for children and adults in churches, and making clear that safeguarding is the responsibility of all. 

Members of the Governing Body were supposed to adopt the new policy during the meeting but the launch has now been delayed until they are able to meet again.