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Church Commissioners publish Annual Report & Accounts

26 April 2006

 

The Church Commissioners achieved a return of 19.1 per cent on their investments in 2005. The Commissioners’ Annual Report & Accounts for 2005 are published today.

Over the past ten years, the Commissioners’ total return on their investments has averaged 11.0 per cent per year, placing them in the top one per cent of funds in the benchmark* group for the decade, compared with 8.0 per cent per year for the industry benchmark, average earnings increasing by an average of 4.3 per cent a year and an annual increase in the retail price index of 2.6 per cent over the ten year period.

As a result of this above-average performance over the last ten years, the Commissioners’ asset value is £4.9 billion, and the fund is able to distribute £38 million more each year to the Church than if the investments had performed only at the industry average over the last ten years.

Since 1997, following the adjustments of the early 1990s, the Commissioners have aimed to increase their distributions to the Church in line with average earnings. In 2005, those distributions totalled £65.8m, which is within £2 million of the 1997 level of £48.8 million increased by the average earnings increase of 39 per cent.

 “This shows remarkable consistency in the turbulent investment and pension conditions of recent years,”  said Andrew Brown, Secretary of the Church Commissioners. “The sound long-term performance reflects both our well-balanced portfolio and the strength of the Commissioners’ investments.

“The Commissioners exist to serve the Church and we are pleased that the good performance enables us to fulfil our responsibilities and make a contribution to the work of every diocese in the Church of England.”

The performance for individual asset classes in 2005 were: UK equities (21.2 per cent); global equities (24.6 per cent); UK bonds (7.9 per cent); commercial property (19.5 per cent); rural property (11.1 per cent); residential property (33.5 per cent) and residential value-linked loans (3.3 per cent).

 

Serving the Church

Details of how the Church Commissioners support the Church of England’s ministry are set out in the Annual Report. It details the contribution that the Commissioners make to the ministry of each of the Church’s 44 dioceses, in addition to their major role of funding all clergy pensions earned before 1998. This contribution includes supporting the ministry of bishops and cathedrals, as well as parish ministry particularly in poorer dioceses.

In 2005, the Church Commissioners continued to provide significant support for the Church's ministry, especially in areas of need. Since it began in 2002, the parish mission fund has given dioceses extra resources for parish ministry totalling £15.1 million, including £4.5 million in 2005.

The Commissioners' total expenditure in 2005 was £166.1 million (£163.8 million in 2004). Total non-pensions expenditure, including support for ministry within dioceses and for the ministry of bishops and cathedrals, totalled £65.8 million in 2005 – an increase of £2.2 million on the previous year.

The main items of expenditure were (with 2004 figures in brackets):

  • £100.3 million (£100.2 million) for clergy pensions based on service before 1998
  • £31.5 million (£27.1 million) for parish ministry, mainly payments to dioceses for clergy stipends
  • £20.7 million (£18.5 million) for bishops' stipends, office and working costs, and housing
  • £6.6 million (£6.1 million) for stipends of cathedral clergy and grants to cathedrals, mainly for staff salaries
  • £7.0 million (£11.9 million) for other support including administration and restructuring costs, support for other Church bodies and church buildings