The Church of England is under the pay-equality spotlight amid claims that men in its central institutions are paid 41 percent more than women.
New government rules require the church to disclose pay differentials based on an employee’s sex. The figures reveal the median pay for men is £45,072 compared to £31,900 for women.
The figures apply to 452 employees of national church institutions. Two-thirds of staff in the top pay band are men, and 72 percent of the lowest-paid employees are women. Men also fare better on bonuses.
“The pay difference for nearly three-quarters of our staff is less than 1 percent, and for half of staff there is no gap in pay between men and women,” a church spokesman said. “The data also shows where we have more work to do in reducing the difference in pay between men and women in more highly paid roles, and improving the ratio of men to women in the most senior and most junior roles.”
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
