12 February 2010
The General Synod, which is the Church of England's governing
body, has voted in favour of bringing civil partner's rights in
line with that of spouse's.
Although the Church does not allow same-sex partnerships to be
blessed in marriage style ceremonies it has admitted that there are
clergy in civil partnerships. It conceded the principle that civil
partners should receive equal pension rights. Benefits will be
paid in line with those for spouse's. This means that the Synod
went beyond the requirements of the Civil Partnership Act 2004,
which only requires that such benefits should be
calculated on service from December 2005 onwards. Civil Partnership Act Overview
Moving the motion, the Rev Mark Bratton of Coventry diocese
said: "The injustice of the current arrangement is obvious. The
benefit to the reputation of the church in remedying this injustice
will be great and ... inversely proportional to the small cost to
the pension scheme involved."
Simon Baynes, a synod member from St Albans diocese, told the
meeting that the dean of St Albans, Jeffrey John would receive only
£307 a year after his partner, also a clergyman, passed away
whereas if he had married a woman his widow would receive an annual
pension of £7,550.
Baynes said: "Employers who pay as little as they can get away
with are the nastiest and the church should not be among them. The
church would look very mean."
The Church of England's clergy pension fund had a deficit of
£350m at the end of 2008. The provision of pensions has cost
the church 40% of its capital and members have recently been
informed that to qualify for a full pension they will have to work
longer and retire at 68. Previously the pension age had been
65.
