Dioceses, Emoluments, Prudence

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Damian Thompson set a hare running about the sort of expense claims that are signed off for Magic Circlists and wondered what diocesan accounts might show. So I had a look at the latest diocesan accounts as posted by the Charities Commission on its website. It is quite interesting. Most dioceses seem to be trying to store up surpluses, presumably against difficult times ahead. Trying to separate out what individual dioceses allow or don't allow as an expense was beyond me, though there is a clear statement for each diocese saying whether trustees are or aren't paid an allowance.

There is a different measure of preudence I decided to chase up: the number of employees who are paid more than £60,000 a year. It is a condition of a charity's having its accounts accepted that it lists the number of people to whom it pays more than £60K, more than £70K, more than £80K, and no doubt, decades beyond that. The good news is that no diocese pays anyone more than £80K. The odd news is that there is such a variation between dioceses which employ nobody at this sort of rate, and those which do.

Diocese £60-70K £70-80K
Arundel & Brighton 5 0
Birmingham 0 0
Brentwood 1 0
Cardiff 0 0
Clifton 0 0
East Anglia 0 0
Hallam 0 0
Hexham and Newcastle 0 0
Lancaster 0 0
Liverpool 1 0
Menevia 0 0
Middlesborough 0 0
Northampton 0 0
Nottingham 1 0
Plymouth 1 1
Portsmouth 0 1
Salford 1 2
Shrewsbury 2 0
Southwark 0 1
Westminster 1 0
Wrexham 0 0

I have to say that for a large diocese, especially in the south-east of England, to employ a senior administrator at a rate of £60-£70K a year does not seem excessive to me. To manage without doing so seems to be very well done indeed. One or two dioceses catch the eye, however.

But let's finish off with some good news: Eccleston Square - I assume the Catholic Trust for England and Wales is Eccleston Square - has gone from having one employee earning £80K-£90K, and one earning beteen £60K-£70K, to having just one earning £70K-£80K. It only employs 38 FTEs, who only cost us £1.3M per year. These accounts might get a closer look!