Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Third sectorLatest NewsBonusesCompensationExecutive pay

Church of England asset management report reveals huge pay gap

by Jo Faragher 28 May 2019
by Jo Faragher 28 May 2019 Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has previously spoken out about economic injustice
Jonathan Brady/PA Archive/PA Images
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has previously spoken out about economic injustice
Jonathan Brady/PA Archive/PA Images

Church Commissioners, the organisation that manages the assets of the Church of England, has a huge pay gap between its highest and lowest-earning employees, according to its latest annual report.

Its highest-paid worker received £256,000 as a long-term incentive payment. Combining bonus and salary, they received 23 times more than the lowest earner. The report also showed that one staff member received a bonus of more than £250,000.

Executive pay ratios

Executive pay ratio reporting: six issues for employers to consider now 

Executive pay: ‘Weak’ remuneration committees must do more

The pay gap at the organisation has been heavily criticised given that the head of the church, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, has previously spoken out publicly about economic injustice.

In 2017, the Church Commissioners gave £226.2m to the Church of England – around 15% of the Church’s overall income, making it one of the largest charitable givers in the UK.

The organisation manages an £8.2 billion investment fund on behalf of the church, and its assets include investments in the Hyde Park Estate in London, and a 10% stake in the Metrocentre in Gateshead.

The money goes towards funding mission activities, paying for bishops’ ministry and cathedral costs, paying clergy pensions (for service before 1998) and operating the national payroll for serving clergy.

It states that it has banded pay grades and is committed to paying a living wage, but employees who directly manage the fund are outside the pay scheme.

The organisation says it pays bonuses to encourage investors to beat targets over a given time period. According to the annual report, nine asset management staff shared £1.08 million last year, including the £256,000 bonus.

The report also stated that salaries were designed to reflect the market for investment specialists. “The Church Commissioners are a large and sophisticated institutional investor investing in a broad range of asset classes, including significant property holdings, and as such seek to attract and retain high-calibre investment professionals,” it said.

A spokesperson for the Church Commissioners told the Daily Mail: “Despite a challenging market environment, the commissioners produced a positive return and our tenth year of positive returns.”

Pay gaps at comparable organisations are not as wide, according to data from the Equality Trust. Local authorities had a ratio of 15:1 between the top earner and the lowest earner, while the widest gap at a charity was 10:1.

However, figures from the CIPD/High Pay Commission show that ratio to be in the hundreds at a number of FTSE 100 companies.

Compensation and benefits opportunities on Personnel Today

Browse more compensation and benefits jobs

Jo Faragher
Jo Faragher

Jo Faragher has been an employment and business journalist for 20 years. She regularly contributes to Personnel Today and writes features for a number of national business and membership magazines. Jo is also the author of 'Good Work, Great Technology', published in 2022 by Clink Street Publishing, charting the relationship between effective workplace technology and productive and happy employees. She won the Willis Towers Watson HR journalist of the year award in 2015 and has been highly commended twice.

previous post
How the RAF can add wings to your HR career
next post
Employers can enhance maternity pay and not shared parental pay

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

Holiday pay changes: how entitlement will be simplified

26 May 2023

Finance worker wins £32,000 after ‘hormonal’ comments

26 May 2023

Retail headcount declines at fastest rate in 14...

26 May 2023

Pets at Home jobs boost with new stores

26 May 2023

Could micro-credentials help your business survive uncertainty?

26 May 2023

Bank holidays: six things employers need to know

26 May 2023

Black and ethnic minority workers twice as likely...

26 May 2023

Neonatal leave and parents’ redundancy protection bills become...

25 May 2023

Millions leave careers due to lack of flexibility

25 May 2023

Police Scotland chief admits force is institutionally racist

25 May 2023

  • The HR Bundle: Your one-stop guide to building a successful global HR Department PROMOTED | Get your hands on Deel’s free HR bundle...Read more
  • The Benefits of an Employee Assistance Programme PROMOTED | EAPs support employees in a range of ways...Read more
  • Intergenerational working and how to manage up and down the generations PROMOTED | The benefits and challenges of intergenerational workplaces...Read more
  • Bereavement in the workplace: How training can help HR get it right PROMOTED | HR professionals play an essential role...Read more
  • UK workforce mental wellbeing needs PROMOTED | The mental wellbeing support employers are providing misses the mark...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2023

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2023 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+