Day three – Thursday 9 November 2017
Session nine:
Paper G1: The Budget
Mr Ian Hardie, Treasurer and convenor of the finance committee, presented Paper G1.
Mr Hardie highlighted some noteworthy areas of the draft budget; he said that, although there was a continued modest decline in M&M, other sources of income will rise – specifically an increase in dividends and the rent from the second floor of the newly refurbished Church House. The costs of ministry are expected to decline slightly, and other costs will hold – and this will result in a deficit of around £1000 for the year.
Mr Hardie went on to explain that the financial projections for 2019 and 2020 show a clear deterioration in the URC’s financial position – a result of the pressing need to increase contributions into both the ministers’ and the lay staff pension funds. He said this need was challenging, adding: ‘There may be hard choices ahead about how we close these gaps … these gaps are unsustainable,’ but said he planned to bring suggestions as to how it might be addressed to either the March 2018 meeting of Mission Council or General Assembly 2018.
A short discussion followed around paragraph 11 of Paper G1 which outlined a plan to address a deficit in the lay staff pension scheme with a one-off £2 million contribution from URC Trust reserves.
The resolution agreeing the 2018 budget was passed unanimously, the vote was taken under majority voting rules.
Paper G3: Rule changes in calculating Ministers’ Pension Fund benefits
Mr Ian Hardie introduced Paper G3 concerning rule changes in calculating ministers’ pension fund benefits.
He asked for Mission Council to recognise:
• That the method set out in the present rules, relating to benefits for part-time members in ill health retirement cases, may, unintentionally, discriminate against those members;
• The UK Supreme Court recently clarified the law about the pension entitlement of same sex spouses and civil partners. The Church is advised to amend the rules to reflect the newly understood legal position;
In July 2017, the court judged, in Walker v Innospec Ltd, that Mr Walker's husband had the right to a survivor's pension calculated on the same basis as if Mr Walker were married to a woman. Provisions in the Equality Act allowing schemes to limit equality for civil and same-sex spouses to retirement benefits was declared contrary to EU law and ineffective.
The paper was discussed at length and an amendment to the draft resolution, recalling the policy set by the General Assembly that the Ministers' Pension Fund rules about same-sex relationships should offer exactly what the secular law requires, was proposed.
The amendment was passed under majority voting rules, as was the resolution.
Paper L1: Report on properties
The Revd Dick Gray, convenor of the URC Trust, presented Paper L1, an update report on two major property matters that the Trust has been involved in:
Church House: Mr Gray reported that the refurbishment had been a success; with one significant problem – a damp problem in the lower ground floor. The builders have taken ownership and are actively seeking solutions to the damp issue. The top floor of Church House has been let to Greenbelt, and they have now moved in. in.
The Windermere Centre: The Trust has accepted an offer of sale from a third party and the sale process is now underway.
This concludes the business.
