Even the clergy usually are not immune from Britain’s cost-of-living disaster, which has pressured Church of England vicars to make a proper pay declare for the primary time of their almost 500-year historical past.
The commerce union Unite, representing greater than 2,000 clergies and lay officers within the Church of England, mentioned Monday it had demanded a 9.5% improve within the stipend that clergy receives, to be paid from April 2024.
“The Church of England has billions in the bank and can fully afford to pay its clergy the modest increase in their stipend they are seeking,” Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham mentioned, pointing to the ten.3 billion pound ($13.20 billion) funding fund listed within the 2022 Annual Report of the Church Commissioners.
A Church of England spokesperson mentioned it was conscious that its clergy had been coping with a cost-of-living disaster.
“We are mindful of this, and of issues of affordability for dioceses, in the deliberations over the annual recommendations for the minimum and benchmark stipend levels,” the spokesperson mentioned.
Last yr, the Church put aside 3 million kilos for dioceses to make grants to assist clergy fighting rising vitality payments.
Hundreds of hundreds of British staff have taken strike motion over the previous yr, demanding pay rises that higher replicate 40-year inflation charges.
Unite proposed that the clergy’s nationwide minimal stipend rise to 29,340 kilos ($37,600) and the nationwide stipend benchmark be elevated to 31,335 kilos.
“Last year, many clergy had to turn to charitable aid because they couldn’t make ends meet,” mentioned Sam Maginnis, a member of the clergy and Unite.
“The proposed increase is necessary to start bringing pay back in line with inflation while addressing the most urgent hardship and anxiety faced by too many clergies and their families.”
The Church of England’s remuneration committee will meet subsequent week to make a suggestion on the stipend, which then goes to the Archbishop’s Council in September for a ultimate suggestion.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
