Church Commissioners Report
The
Church Commissioners have asked us to publish this report:
Financial
Results in 2003
In 2003,
the Commissioners achieved their best investment results for the last four
years. Our fund say a total return
of 17% and the assets were worth £3.9 at the end of the year.
For more detail about our activity in 2003, do look at our annual report,
available from the Policy Unit and on the website.
But here are the key points:
In the last five- and ten-year periods our returns have been ahead of the average for comparable funds by more than three percentage points every year. This is better than for any of the 818 funds in the benchmark that we are compared with. Our property holdings have been a big contributor to this outstanding result.
Supporting
the Church's ministry
We fund all
clergy pensions earned before 1998 and provide other support for the Church,
especially in areas of need. In
total we spent £164 million in 2003:
£100.2 million for
clergy pensions and £3.7 million to help diocese and parishes with the cost of
clergy pension contributions (63%)
£26.4 million for parish ministry, mainly payments to dioceses for clergy stipends. £19.7 million went to dioceses with least resources (16%)
£17.8 million for
bishops' stipends, office and working costs and housing (11%)
£6.1 million for
stipends of cathedral clergy and grants to cathedrals, mainly for staff salaries
(4%)
£9.8 million for
administration, support for other Church bodies and Church buildings (6%)
Actuaries review
our fund every three years (with yearly updates) to help gauge how much we can
safely plan to spend. The 2003
review confirms that, thanks to recent performance, we
can modestly increase spending in 2005 - 07.
This will enable us to provide a steady
pattern of support over the coming years.
Over the last
three years the parish mission fund (£3.5 million in 2003) has given dioceses extra
resources to provide for parish ministry. We plan for this to continue for at least the
next two years. It has supported a
range of activity: work with young people, asylum
seekers, tourism projects and a part-adaptation of a rural Leicester church to
provide a post office for local villagers.
Containing
costs and adding value
We have cut administrative costs by a third in real terms in the last ten years and, like the Archbishops' Council, are holding costs at 2001 budget levels in 2002- 04. Cost savings are just one result of looking for better ways of doing things.
Other examples in 2003 include:
We have put in place
new management for some of our UK stock market holdings to broaden the fund's
investment base and reduce risk
Our review of bishops'
houses aims to ensure that these properties work well as homes and offices for
bishops and their families, and that we optimize their full value.
We replaced Bristol see house with a better, more cost efficient property
New information on the
website about former churches available for sale has produced extra inquiries in
2003. We hope this will lead to
increased sales and more money for the Church
Our review of the
Church's heritage is looking at issues of ownership, finance and public access
for these important collections
We worked with the
Archbishops' Council in 2003 on the review of Dioceses and Pastoral Measures.
This aims to streamline procedures to meet the Church's changing pastoral
and mission needs. Synod welcomed
it and agreed to fast-track a proposal to enable parts of churches to be leased
for other uses without redundancy
We have helped press
the Church's case in Parliament for VAT relief on listed building repairs.
The government's welcome decision to extend the listed places of worship
grant scheme to March 2006 and to increase the relief rate, now effectively
reduces parishes VAT costs on these repairs to zero
We carried out a review of our spending pattern jointly with the Archbishops' Council. Synod debated the issues in February this year and the work will continue in specific areas.
Home page: http://stmatthewsnewcastle.org.uk/