Day 211 May 18

Report of the Representative Church Body Presented to General Synod in Armagh

The report of the Representative Church Body was presented to General Synod in Armagh this morning (Friday May 11). The report noted that, during 2017, the total funds available to the RCB increased by 2.8% to €193.9 million (from €188.6 million). Total expenditure from General Funds remained constant at €7.2 million.

Presenting the report, Henry Saville, chair of the executive committee, outlined the main activities of the RCB. These include investment management, support for property transactions, administration of trusts, treasury management, payment of (some) clergy stipends, administration of the Clergy Pension Fund and payment of pensions, allocation of funds and resources to support the work of the Church, provision of legal support and library.

He said that careful management of finances was critical to the RB’s ability to continue providing support to the mission of the Church. “Whilst it is pleasing to be able to report further growth in the balance of general funds at the year end, we continue to struggle to live within our means, whether measured by traditional methods or under the total return approach,” he stated.

Mr Saville explained that in 2017 the amount permitted to be withdrawn from RB funds under Total Return was €5.42m. Taken with an increase of other operating income this meant total incoming resources increased by almost €300k. While the cost of operations and allocations increased marginally, a significant reduction in exceptional pension costs meant the total withdrawal figure was down by €140k and excess withdrawal reduced by €430k. However, the excess withdrawal was still unacceptably high at €910k, he stated.

The budget figure for 2018 shows excess withdrawals reducing to just below €600k and the goal of the RB is to eliminate excess withdrawals over a two to three year period.

On the up side, Mr Saville said the continuing delivery of positive returns in excess of the RB’s permitted withdrawal rate meant that their total general funds balance continued to show year on year increases. In 2017 there was an increase in general funds of €4.7m resulting in total general funds of €184.4m. But, he said, the RB continued to be haunted by the severe depletion of capital that happened in the global collapse in 2008 when general funds were reduced by almost 50% and the RB’s conservative approach, whilst providing a very satisfactory return, appeared to have underperformed.

Similarly in Unit Trusts, very good performances over one, three and five years appeared less satisfactory when measured against benchmarks that don’t sit totally comfortably with placing a high priority on capital protection.

Mr Saville said that Environmental, Social and Governance issues continued to feature in the management of the investment portfolio and the RB’s approach was primarily to engage with companies to encourage improvement in their policies. This approach was delivered in the main through the RB’s involvement with lobby groups such as the Church Investors Group and the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change.

Apart from dealing with environmental issues through investments, the RB has also acknowledged that there are things that can be done to reduce its environmental impact. Initiatives have included a pilot scheme to identify potential energy efficiency initiatives within parishes, waste reduction, promotion of remote meetings through conference hubs, and the location of beehives on RCB property to improve urban pollination.

Mr Saville said that Property and Trusts were the areas of RB activities that had most interaction day by day with parishes. He said that the report of the RCB contained valuable information on the range of grant funding available.

He reported that the Campus Review Group was at the early stages of examining the property assets directly under the control of the RCB. He outlined the work of the RCB Library in providing resources for ministerial training and managing significant resources on parish, diocesan and cathedral records, ecclesiastical manuscripts and records of General Synod and the RCB among other things.

Before closing his speech Mr Saville publicly thanked all the staff of Church House for their professionalism and commitment. However, he said this may ring hollow with staff this year in the light of the recent decision to wind up the staff defined benefit pension scheme.

“Along with other members of the Executive Committee I have attended a number of meetings over the last few weeks that leave us in no doubt as to the current state of staff morale,” he stated. “Notwithstanding all of the expressed anger and frustration I, and the other members of the Executive Committee remain convinced that the decisions taken were not just in the best interests of the RCB, as a Trustee body, but also in the interests of all staff.

We do regret the current state of morale and we are committed, with management, to restoring the normal, mutually respectful, relationships that have existed within Church House.”

Seconding the report, Archdeacon Adrian Wilkinson highlighted the other work of the RCB. He said the membership of the RCB reflected the wider all–Ireland Church and was made up of all the bishops, as well as elected clergy and lay people from every part of our island. “We sit, deliberate and work together, to provide resources in accordance with our responsibilities as charitable trustees, to further the mission and ministry of the Church of Ireland in all its activities,” he said.

He said Synod members were aware of the additional standards required of them, particularly in relation to the new General Data Protection Regulation, charities regulation and safeguarding. He said all these were to be welcomed and to this end, he said, the RCB had provided a comprehensive collection of parish resources to help clergy and select vestries as well as any interested individual to chart their way through these issues.

“I can only speak from my own experience, but as someone who comes up against a myriad of issues, which my predecessors as clergy would never have concerned themselves, I am very grateful for this resource section. It won’t answer every complex situation, but it gives you a framework for addressing them. It has also been very helpful in providing guidance to people coming into the life of our Church who not cradle Anglicans, giving them the basic vocabulary of our administrative structures,” Archdeacon Wilkinson said.

He thanked the RCB staff who travelled to various locations to run seminars on these issues and paid tribute to all who attended.

Discussion on the report on the RCB focused on the following areas:

·         The RCB is a member of the Church Investors Group which has said that it will not support investments in companies where fewer than one third of members of the boards are women. It was noted that there were no women on the RCB executive committee.

·         Referring to the Staff Pension Scheme the deep disharmony, unease and upset within the staff of the RB was noted. Questions were asked at the level of consultation undertaken and if the staff of the RB were to be treated less favourably than clergy at the time of the closure of the Clergy defined benefit scheme, and how the best interests of the staff were being looked after.

·         The importance of using ordinary plain English to make sure the members of pension schemes understand the implications of changes to their pensions was highlighted.

·         The staff in Church House were thanked for all their work, courtesy and efficiency and the upset of the staff over their pension scheme was noted. The RCB was urged to treat the staff fairly and equitably and that all appropriate advice will be given to staff.

·         Concern was expressed at the distress amongst staff members following changes in staff pension provisions and assurances that the sense of hurt would be addressed.

·         The importance of wellness at work was highlighted.

·         The issue of staff pensions reflected on the Church.

·         The decisions on the staff pension were made with all good faith for the good of the staff and the good of the RB. It was unfortunate, and a matter of regret, the way the news of the change came out. Moving from Defined Benefit to Defined Contribution schemes was a reality. Suggestions that the RB executive lacked respect and care were refuted.

·         The RCB was thanked for making the accounts simpler to follow.

·         The provision of regular church services in Ireland was highlighted.

·         The contribution of the Church Fabric Fund was acknowledged and there was a warning about additional costs which can be incurred by parishes sitting on historic sites when they carry out work and discover they are sitting on something of importance to national heritage which may have a crippling effect on parishes.

·         The RCB Library has secured a grant of €100,000 to digitise parish records from the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

·         A request for information on the whereabouts of the Taylor Library – the Dioceses of Connor and Down and Dromore would like their books back.

·         A request to encourage the National Archives to digitise their records. Parishes should be encouraged send their records to the Library so they can be digitised. 

·         The succession lists of the dioceses have been almost completed. The transcription of parish registers is also possible and clergy and parishioners were encouraged to reproduce copies of their registers and vestry minutes and hand the old copies to the RCB Library.

In reply Mr Saville noted the lack of women on the RCB executive committee and said that they would welcome more names coming forward for it. Regarding the staff pension scheme he acknowledged that it had been a difficult time for the RB and staff. 

Three motions relating to the Representative Church Body were passed. The first dealt with allocations for General Funds in 2018 as follows:

The second dealt with the Diocesan Contribution for Safeguarding affirming the decision of the Representative Body that the rate of contribution from each diocese towards costs relating to Safeguarding in respect of the year 2019 be set at 0.9% of the Minimum Approved Stipend in force at 1 January 2019 multiplied by the sum of the number of cures, including vacant cures, in such diocese at 30 June 2018.

The third motion dealt with membership of the Church of Ireland Pensions Board as follows:

Canon Lady Sheil

Rev John Auchmuty

Mrs Cynthia Cherry