§ Mr. Ben ChapmanTo ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners if he will make a statement on the pension rights of clergy. [101436]
§ Mr. BellClergy in office receive a stipend and are housed. When they retire they make their own housing provision, but they receive a pension from the State as well as that provided by the Church's clergy pension scheme. The basis for determining the benefits provided by the latter—a lump sum at retirement plus a pension—was designed to take into account all of these factors. The full service pension (payable after 37 years of service) has since April 2002 been £10,693 per annum and will increase by 3 per cent. from April 2003. The retirement lump sum is £32,079.
Following a thorough consultation with interested parties in the Church, culminating in a General Synod debate last November, it was decided to retain the defined benefit scheme. The Church has resisted the increasingly common alternative of moving to money purchase schemes, thereby shifting risk onto the employee, in a demonstration of its commitment to adequate provision for the clergy in their retirement.