THE General Synod took the unexpected step of moving to next business after a contentious debate on Monday on the Legal Officers (Annual Fees) Order 2024, which determines the annual retainer of Diocesan Registrars.
The business had come under the deemed-items section of the agenda, for debate provided that requested. The Archdeacon of Sunderland, the Ven. Robert Cooper (Durham), who chairs the Fees Advisory Commission (FAC), which recommends the speed, acknowledged concerns concerning the level of the pay increase, at near 25 per cent. The formula aimed to remunerate registrars for 75 per cent of what they did, he said; in order that they were “very removed from being overpaid”. The FAC considered the retainer provided to be superb value for money.
Registrars provided a high-quality service, he said, and, with no retainer, dioceses would must agree the fee for each bit of labor on the prevailing hourly rate. There was evidence of the increasing difficulty in recruitment of the subsequent generation of ecclesiastical lawyers. The order was “intended to balance the needs of registrars with those of the diocese”.
Canon Joyce Jones (Leeds) agreed concerning the importance of getting ecclesiastical lawyers and paying them properly. “But a 25-per-cent increase does appear to be excessive,” she said. “I support the principle, but the way in which the formula is working must be renewed.”
The Revd James Pitkin (Winchester), on Zoom, attributed the rise to the outworking of the complex formula used to set the fees. “But the result seems ridiculous,” he said. “It has come unexpectedly or consultation with the DBFs. Budgets at diocesan level now can’t be modified to accommodate this huge increase. It could be good to say no.”
Carl Hughes (Archbishops’ Council) said that the rise would raise the entire retainers paid by £1.1 million: 58 per cent could be paid by the dioceses and the rest by the Commissioners. The quantum of the rise was “not that massive”, he suggested: the retainer gave dioceses certainty of the prices they faced, and, even with the rise, would supply higher value for money than the pay-as-you-go system. “We need to make sure this specialistic ecclesiastical law stays attractive for law firms.”
The Dean of the Arches and Auditor, the Rt Worshipful Morag Ellis KC, said that, compared with business rates, these rates were actually low. Pragmatically, registrars were a part of solicitors’ firms, and recruitment into this very area of interest ecclesiastical world was difficult. She advised the Synod to endorse the principle of fair remuneration.
Carl Fender (Lincoln), a member of the FAC, said that it had been mindful of the impact that the rise would have on dioceses. “We have to adequately resource specialist services,” he said, suggesting that one among the results of an underfunded system could be that less-qualified people did the work.
The Dean of St Edmundsbury, the Very Revd Joe Hawes, was concerned about consultation. Further, he had seen no evidence of the problem of recruiting solicitors to the role.
Julie Dziegiel (Oxford) was outraged at the size of the rise. “I’m very sorry, but this does impact the squeezed middle budgets of the dioceses,” she said. “It’s unacceptable.”
The Revd Dr Sara Batts-Neale (Chelmsford) described the massive amount of legal work and low levels of staffing in her diocese, which was so large that she said that it needs to be considered for London weighting.
Aiden Hargreaves-Smith (London) brought a procedural motion to maneuver to next business. A registrar himself, he thanked the Commission for its wider work, but was concerned that the rise could cause difficulties in relationships between dioceses and registrars, which, he said, were fundamental. “It won’t help us to proceed this conversation,” he said.
“Without rejecting the principles of the annual fees order, in a classic via media, let’s ask the FAC to bring a special proposal back to Synod. We do have to avoid returning to a situation where recruiting is a significant challenge.”
There was a theme there about “how much we love our registrars and value what they provide”, the Archdeacon said in response: “I’m blissful to maneuver to next business in order that the FAC may give further consideration to it, and produce an additional proposal to Synod in February.”
The motion was carried by a show of hands.
On Tuesday, the Synod approved by a show of hands the Ecclesiastical Legal Officers, Judges and Others (Fees) Order 2024, which makes provision for the range of fees payable to the above in respect of proceedings comparable to Faculty hearings.
The rise was seven per cent, based on recommendations from the Senior Salaries Review Board, and was uncontroversial. The Archdeacon of London, the Ven. Luke Miller (London), referred to the “complexity of stuff now we have to take care of in keeping the engine room of the Church running. There is a concomitant cost to that,” he said.
