WORK to enhance clergy pensions and stipends is under way, underpinned by a determination to “affirm stipendiary clergy and support the fostering of the vocations to stipendiary ministry required by the Church”, the General Synod has been told.
On Saturday, Carl Hughes, who chairs the Finance Committee of the Archbishops’ Council, said that his “biggest concern was how attractive from a financial standpoint the stipend is for ordinands once they’re in full-time ministry”. All studies suggested, he said, “significant mental-health issues and financial anxiety amongst clergy”.
In February, the Synod voted unanimously to ask that the Council, the Pensions Board, and the Church Commissioners “work along with dioceses to explore ways by which the extent of clergy pensions and stipends may be improved in a sustainable manner”. It followed a non-public member’s motion that called for the restoration of the clergy pension to its pre-2011 profit level (News, 1 March 2024).
In December 2021 — after the Remuneration and Conditions of Service Committee review advised against a stipend uplift across the board — the Archbishops’ Council adopted a policy that the national minimum stipend (NMS) would increase, on average, by CPIH (the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs) inflation, subject to 3 yearly reviews and being alert to sustained high levels of inflation. But, in the following two years, increases were below inflation. Data suggests that it is nearly £4000 lower than if it had tracked CPIH since 2010.
In April, a seven-per-cent increase from £26,134 to £28,670 got here into effect (News, 9 February), however the C of E section of Unite the Union has called for an extra increase of eight per cent to “finally close the gap between stipends and inflation and be sure that most clergy can maintain a suitable way of life on their stipend”.
Stipend levels have a direct effect on pensions, that are calculated close to the NMS within the previous tax yr: in April, a five-per-cent rise in pensions that got here into payment within the yr 2023/24 was implemented.
Among those raising concerns about retired clergy was the Dean of St Edmundsbury, the Very Revd Joe Hawes, who reported that, by Easter this yr, three clergy had approached the dioceses and the Suffolk clergy charity for help with debt, all of them in CHARM housing. “It seems that there’s a crisis amongst a few of our clergy in retirement housing. . . If we’re plucking people out of the deep water of debt, the query still stays about why forces of circumstance are causing them to fall in further upstream.”
Because diocesan funds have been squeezed — a recent review highlighted that diocesan deficits were expected to double from £29 million in 2022 to £62 million this yr (News, 21 June) — the Church Commissioners are increasingly being urged to act. On Sunday, the First Church Estates Commissioner, Alan Smith, spoke of receiving many letters from bishops and clergy quoting Luke 12 (the parable of the wealthy idiot).
A General Synod paper, GS Misc 1391, provides an update on the work of the Archbishops’ Council, the Pensions Board, and the Commissioners, by the 2 chairs and the First Commissioner. It speaks of “determination to discover an excellent response to the motion which seeks to affirm stipendiary clergy and support the fostering of the vocations to stipendiary ministry required by the Church”.
Observing that dioceses have “limited financial capability to fund a cloth increase in stipends presently”, it says that any “step change” would must be considered in parallel with the Diocesan Finance Review and Triennial Funding Working Group process later this yr. Among the areas being reviewed was “whether there’s a case and mechanism to supply additional support outside of the core stipend for larger clergy families with caring responsibilities for whom living on the stipend is a struggle even with an uplift, especially in light of the transition to Universal Credit”.
On Saturday, Mr Hughes said that stipends and pensions were “hard things simply to wave a magic wand over to repair”. But he expected that proposals to be delivered to the Synod next yr, after the second phase of the diocesan-finances review, would mean that the financial flows between the national Church and the dioceses would look “quite different”.
In a presentation on the annual report on Sunday, Mr Smith defended the generosity of the Commissioners, whose fund stands at £10.4 billion, after a 4.1-per-cent return on investments in 2023 (News, 7 June). While this capped 15 years of positive returns, he noted that prior to now two years the goal of CPIH plus 4 per cent had not been met. “We are on the cusp of how the markets are operating. . . We have to be sensible by way of how we invest and the way we commit for the period ahead,” he said.
The Commissioners’ remit was to “maximise sustainable distributions, not to maintain back”. he told the Synod. A complete of £3.6 billion was to be distributed between 2023 and 2031: a level of commitment unusual amongst national grant-makers, particularly provided that all indicators suggested that returns could be slower within the years ahead.
In 2023, distributions by the Archbishops’ Council included £9.4 million to support dioceses with the prices of 68.5 additional stipendiary curacies and £5.6 million for extra clergy posts, “to be sure that no suitably qualified curate is left with out a post”.
In a presentation to the Synod on Saturday, Mr Hughes told members that “the first crisis the Church is facing today is missional. The financial challenges are consequential.” The Church of England had seen a decline in average weekly attendance from 1.2 million in 2001 to 654,000 in 2022.
The Triennial Funding Working Group set to convene this autumn would receive input from a recent General Synod Reference Group, he confirmed.
“Undoubtedly there can be some difficult decisions to make. We won’t give you the option to afford every little thing that everybody might want to do. We have to seek to deploy our resources to best effect, focused on effective front-line ministry . . . We have to refocus our efforts on mission and evangelism, underpinned by prayer for our nation to return to Christ. We have to be teaching that giving is a component of Christian discipleship, and we’d like to work towards a time when today’s mission and ministry is again funded by today’s giving.”
