The national assembly of the Church of England has voted to bring together two of its charities, the Archbishops’ Council and Church of England Central Services, as part of a governance review.
Following the General Synod’s vote on Saturday, the change will see both organisations replaced by a new charity called the Church of England National Services (CENS).
If approved by Parliament, CENS will also take over non-investment functions from the institution’s largest central charity, the Church Commissioners, and most of those currently held by the offices of the archbishops of Canterbury and York.
The Church of England said the vote was the result of “a four-year process designed to simplify and transform the church’s national structures to better serve, support and encourage local churches”.
The synod, which is meeting from 11 to 15 July in York, also agreed to increase the church’s national spending from £1.2bn in 2023-25 to £1.6bn in 2026-28 due to “strong investment performance and a rigorous actuarial process”.
The Church of England said the £1.6bn “will support a major package of measures for clergy wellbeing and a focus on supporting parishes in the lowest income communities in the country, as well as other key priorities including safeguarding and redress”.
“This represents an increase of 36% on the current triennium, amounting to the biggest distribution in the church’s history,” it said in a statement.
Commissioners’ investment assets rise to £11.1bn
Meanwhile, the Church Commissioners’ investment assets stood at £11.1bn last year, compared with £10.4bn the previous year, according to the charity’s latest annual report.
Financial data for the year ending 31 December 2024 shows that last year, the Church of England’s endowment fund, which is administered by the Church Commissioners, generated a total return of 10.3%, compared with 4.1% the year before and an average return of 8.6% per annum over the past decade.
The report, published last month, says that despite a year of “significant geopolitical uncertainty”, the Church Commissioners distributed £283m, excluding pre-1998 clergy pensions, a £60.2m year-on-year increase.
Its total income increased by £15.4m to £207m last year, while total expenditure fell by £124m to £370m. Meanwhile, its total net assets stood at £9.89bn (2023: £9.1bn).
Learning from safeguarding failures
The Archbishops’ Council has also recently published its annual report and financial statements for the year to 31 December 2024.
Its report shows that the council recorded a total income of £236m against total expenditure of £229m, with the £47m increase in costs mainly attributed to more grants being awarded.
The report cites recent safeguarding reviews, including Keith Makin’s investigation into the Church of England’s historic handling of allegations of serious abuse by the late John Smyth, which have raised concerns about the institution’s processes and procedures.
“During this difficult and challenging year, we’ve come to a greater realisation that we – as the council, the church and as individuals – haven’t done all we could and should have done in responding to victims and survivors of abuse,” it reads.
“The council laments and repents of this failure and is committed to learning from it. Following the report from Sarah Wilkinson, trustees have participated in trauma-informed training as we continue to work towards a more victim-centred safeguarding approach.
“We hope that our revised guidance, survivor engagement and promotion of legislative changes, including the ongoing work towards the establishment of the national redress scheme, illustrate this.”
The national redress scheme, which will be administered by law firm Kennedys, is underway and should complete the synodical stages this year, pending legislative approval.
The scheme should be available to “survivors of sexual, physical, financial, psychological and emotional (including spiritual) abuse or neglect, where it was committed (in England or elsewhere) by a person acting under the authority of the Church of England,” the report reads.
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