Church of England is ‘heading for financial disaster’ due to net-zero targets and slavery reparations, report warns

A new report has warned the Church of England is careering towards financial ruin, driven by net-zero targets and slavery reparations.

The report, written by Canon Robin Gill and Prof John Craven, argues that “extravagant” projects are deepening the institution’s financial issues, with 37 out of 42 dioceses now running budget deficits.

This is more than double the 18 dioceses recorded in 2019.

The report identifies the Church’s carbon reduction plans and Project Spire, a £100m investment fund designed to atone for historical links to the slave trade, as “costly” schemes that churchgoers regard as “unrealistic, extravagant, unsustainable and deeply depressing”.

Only “ruthless” reforms, the authors contend, can stem a deepening crisis characterised by falling attendance, shrinking donations and declining ordinations.

The Church set a target to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2030, committing £190m to eco-friendly upgrades for churches and vicarages.

It has since conceded it will not meet this deadline, with critics arguing the policy has left parishioners shivering in cold buildings and deterred attendance by restricting the installation of new oil or gas boilers.

Project Spire, meanwhile, faces a High Court challenge brought by the Rev Jamie Franklin, rector of Holy Trinity in Winchester, and Bijan Omrani, churchwarden at St Michael’s in Shute, Devon.

Opponents maintain the fund rests on flawed evidence and ignores the Church’s historical role in the abolition of slavery.

The report also highlights a dramatic expansion in diocesan bureaucracy, with staff numbers rising roughly 80 per cent from 1,300 to 2,300 since 2005.

New positions include net-zero officers, safeguarding specialists and racial justice leads, even as the number of parish clergy has fallen sharply.

According to the campaign group Save the Parish, some dioceses now employ as many administrative staff as ministers.

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The organisation has previously calculated that ageing clergy and insufficient ordinations could see the number of full-time priests collapse to 5,400 by 2033, just 40 per cent of the figure recorded in 2000.

Canon Gill and Prof Craven recommend slashing the number of diocesan managers and administrators, and merging the existing 42 dioceses and their bishops down to 30.

They urge the Church to make parish ministry more appealing, both financially and professionally.

Canon Gill, who previously advised former Archbishops of Canterbury Robert Runcie and George Carey, told the Telegraph: “In the end, we do need to strengthen local parishes.

“Increasing diocesan administrators by 80 per cent over the last 25 years, while parish clergy have decreased by 40 per cent, is suicidal.”

The Church of England welcomed the “wide-ranging and thoughtful” report, with a spokesman saying: “As the report notes, there are already good examples of successful sharing of resources at a national level.

“Dioceses have also made strides in sharing roles and services regionally in recent years. As seen with the reorganisation which brought three dioceses together into a new diocese earlier this century, structures are regularly kept under review.

“Larger scale restructuring, even within a shared region, are a major undertaking. The report singles out the growth in safeguarding staff in dioceses as its primary example of an apparent growth of ‘administrators’.

“These new posts, bringing expertise in child protection and policing, are vital in helping ensure the most vulnerable people within our communities are safe.”

A spokesman for the Church Commissioners said: “The Church Commissioners remains committed to the Church’s journey to net zero and to supporting parishes and dioceses as they reduce their emissions.

“Project Spire is a commitment of £100m, around one per cent of the endowment and to be allocated over a number of years. It sits alongside record support for the wider Church.

“The Commissioners is distributing £4.6bn across the Church of England between 2026 and 2034.

“This includes £1.6bn between 2026 and 2028, the largest distribution in the Church’s history, to support clergy, bishops and cathedrals, and grants to dioceses and parishes, particularly in lower-income communities.”