New Ways of Working

Diocesan Secretary and CEO of the Diocesan Board of Finance David Pain writes:

This week I have started a formal 30-day staff consultation on possible changes to roles in the diocesan staff team. This consultation is seeking views on potential changes to roles and a potential overall reduction in the cost of staffing by 10%.

The proposals are shaped in response to 5 main factors:

1. The primary goal of the diocesan team is to serve the local church and their communities. For example, we’re proposing to have one team which is the first point of contact and the anchor for our administration. In another example we are proposing new ways of managing property and property repairs, following the Clergy Property review last year.
2. Aligning to the refreshed Renewing Hope: Pray, Serve, Grow. This includes taking the next steps in our approach discipleship, mission and social justice and to vocations and ministry.
3. Living within our means, while seeking to increase income. While we are proposing to reduce spend on salaries by 10% overall, we are also proposing to invest in raising more money through development of the Building Consultancy which returns a profit to the diocese and by joining the national programme of giving advisors to support parish giving.
4. With new IT systems coming into operation there is the opportunity to automate some processes, offering a better and faster service to the parishes. This impacts on many of our roles in finance, property, people and safeguarding as well as our communications work.
5. Across the proposals there is a deepening of collaboration and partnerships, including working much more closely with Sarum College on ministry formation and with external suppliers in IT, Health and Safety and property services.

Staff and members of the Bishop's Council and its committees are asked to give feedback through a dedicated email and all this feedback will be closely considered. Individual, group and team meetings both in person and online will be taking place to ensure views are clearly heard. A range of support is being offered to staff at this challenging and unsettling time.

The consultation runs to October 1st after which I will be making final decisions with the support of the Human Resources Committee of the Bishops Council and these will be ratified by Bishop Nicholas before being implemented.