The problem caused by Britain's high cost of living has affected the people in their country, including members of the clergy at the Church of England. As a result, the church leaders have recently begun demanding a salary raise.
Church Leaders Demands Pay Rise
Based on a report from Daily Sabah, in order to assist clergy members who are having difficulty keeping up with growing energy costs, the Church provided three million British pounds to be distributed by the dioceses in the form of grants. In the previous year, hundreds of thousands of employees in the United Kingdom participated in strike actions to voice their demand for pay raises that more accurately matched inflation rates over the previous four decades. As mentioned, a spokeswoman for the Church of England stated that they knew their clergy were struggling due to the rising cost of living. On Monday, Jun 19, the trade union Unite, which represents over 2,000 clergies and lay executives in the Church of England, announced that it had requested a 9.5% rise in the monthly salary that clergy members receive, to be paid beginning in April 2024.
According to Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham, the Church of England has billions in banking assets and is in a position to provide its religious leaders with the modest increase in their compensation that they are requesting. She was reportedly referring to the £10.3 billion ($13.20 billion) investment fund included in the 2022 Annual Report of the Church Commissioners. Moreover, unite suggested that the national minimum salary for clergy should be raised to £29,34 or more than $37,600 and that the standard for the national stipend should be raised to £31,335 or almost $40,000
On the other hand, the recommended raise is essential to begin bringing compensation back in keeping with inflation and to alleviate the most pressing hardship and concern experienced by too many clergies and their families. As per NPR, funds have been put aside by the Church of England to assist dioceses through the cost-of-living crisis. These funds include an additional $3.8 million in discretionary aid to dioceses and $19 million to alleviate the high cost of energy bills.
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Britain's Cost of Living Crisis
According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the level of consumer prices in April 2023 was 8.7% higher than in the previous month. It is a reportedly significant decrease from 10.1% in March 2023. In addition, most of the drop was caused by the previous year's dramatic spike in family utility expenses not being duplicated this April. An article from UK Parliament stated that the standard way to describe the inflation rate is as a percentage change in the price of goods compared to the same period one year earlier. The results for April come after seven months in a row during which double-digit inflation was recorded. Nevertheless, this decline in the inflation rate was not as significant as had been anticipated.
A poll conducted by Reuters found that most economists anticipated a decline in inflation to 8.2%, while the Bank of England anticipated a decline to 8.4%. In April 2023, there was an increase in the rates used for calculating the underlying inflation in the economy. The "core inflation" rate, which strips out the effects of price changes in energy and food, reached its highest level since 1992, climbing from 6.2% in March to 6.8% in April. In April, the average yearly inflation rate for services rose to 6.9%, up from 6.6% in March, the highest level since 1992. Furthermore, economists anticipate that this effect will lead to a general decline in the inflation rate in 2023 since some previous price increases will "drop out" of the yearly comparison.
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