Cost of Church of England bishops increases by £2 million
By Ruth Gledhill and Tim Glanfield, Timesonline
The running costs of the Church of England’s 113 bishops increased by £2 million, or 13.5 per cent, to £16 million last year at a time when the Church has been telling the nation to embrace a more lowly life.
The bishops spent £1.3 million on travel in a period when the Church’s own assets dropped from £5.67 billion to £4.36 billion during the credit crunch.
As many of the bishops’ own costs increased, in repeated Lent campaigns they urged worshippers to turn off televisions, lights and use charity shops to save both cash and climate.
In spite of having fewer responsibilities and a smaller staff, home and office to maintain, the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, outspent Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in almost every area. Last year he spent four times more on office equipment, eight times more on office furnishings, double on an official car, £5,000 more on drivers, more on fuel, travel, heating, lighting and cleaning.
He spent less on training as he has fewer staff and managed to spend less on hospitality, but it still amounted to more than £14,000, compared with £21,000 for Dr Williams.
Dr Sentamu’s individual working costs, excluding office and staff, came to more than £106,000, up 20 per cent from nearly £88,500 in 2007 and about one fifth more than Dr Williams’s individual working costs of nearly £87,000.
Dr Sentamu said: “In the present economic crisis we need to rediscover that spirit of togetherness, that helped the British during the Second World War to stand together in the face of food rationing and the Blitz. And conquer this crisis we will! We had better stand together or we will all hang separately economically.”
The 69 suffragan and assistant bishops managed to spend almost £50,000 on gardeners and between them, the 113 bishops racked up nearly £600,000 in hospitality.
Much of the increase was down to the £850,000 spent on the 2008 Lambeth Conference when Kent University was hired for the three-week gathering of Anglican bishops from all over the globe.
But the Church Commissioners, who manage the Church’s assets, still spent £7.3 million on the maintenance of houses, offices and gardens.
This cost dropped in the past two years from £7.9 million in 2007 and £8.6 million in 2006 but there is still a large rise from just £3 million in 2000.
Taking into account administration, pensions, national insurance, stipends and other costs, the overall cost of the bishops has risen dramatically since the turn of the millennium from £9.3 million in 2000 to £16 million today.
But despite of the escalating costs, the governing body of the Church has stood by the bishops.
Last July the General Synod drew back from a proposal to abolish several of them and refused to cut a number of costly boards, councils and committees.
The Bishop of London, the Right Rev Richard Chartres, who runs the “Shrinking the Footprint” campaign on climate change, claimed the highest chauffeur costs, of £27,264. He also had the second-highest fuel bill of £3,149.
Bishop Chartres, who recently gave up flying for a year, has described going on holiday by plane or buying a big car as symptomatic of sin.
The figures also show that diocesan bishops spent £130,321 on minor household and garden repairs, while junior bishops spent £32,349.
Even though they consistently resist demands to reduce their number, the synod is likely to follow the example of Parliament and attempt to cut costs.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
