Exclusive: Some vicars are tens of thousands of pounds in debt and reliant on charity handouts

Hundreds of clergy are in financial hardship, with some resorting to credit cards or even a high-interest payday lender, despite the Church of England sitting on a multibillion-pound investment fund.

Some vicars are tens of thousands of pounds in debt, with many struggling to survive – especially those supporting families – and relying on charity handouts to make ends meet, the Guardian has learned.

Clergy Support Trust – a centuries-old charity which supports destitute Anglican vicars, assistant or associate priests, curates-in-training and chaplains – gave £1.8m worth of grants to 459 clergy last year.

Analysis last year found that 217 individuals who had applied to the charity for help had personal unsecured debts of £5,000 or more, totalling nearly £3m. The figures, based on a combination of grant application data over a 20-month period, do not include mortgages or student loans. Of the 217, 41% had debts of between £5,000 and £10,000, 44% between £10,000 and £20,000, and 15% over £20,000. Four applicants had debts in excess of £50,000.

Of the debts, 20% were on credit or store cards, 29% were in bank loans or overdrafts, 39% were car loans, 7% were to family and 5% “other”. Meanwhile, a 2017 C of E report found that one in five ordained ministers were either “finding it very difficult”, “finding it quite difficult” or “just about getting by” financially.

Clergy Support Trust’s chief executive, Jeremy Moodey, told the Guardian that in at least one recent case, a vicar had been forced to use a high-interest payday lender. He also highlighted how some clergy had been hit by the government’s controversial introduction of a two-child limit on benefits, which restricted the child allowance in universal credit and tax credits.

It comes amid dwindling congregation numbers and raises questions over whether the C of E should be doing more to help impoverished vicars given that it has an investment fund worth £8.3bn and is paying asset management executives six-figure sums, including one who earned more than £530,000 last year. The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby – who has two grace-and-favour homes including Lambeth Palace – is paid £83,400 and last year attacked Amazon for not paying a living wage and railed against poverty.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Justin Welby outside Lambeth Palace in London after his appointment as archbishop of Canterbury in 2012. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

The bishop of Buckingham, the Right Rev Alan Wilson, told the Guardian “there’s always more to be done” to help financially struggling clergy. “Clergy people’s circumstances and the stresses of ministry are becoming more complex and diverse all the time,” he said. “Often people are kind and there is help out there, but there are holes in what’s available.”

Moodey, a former banker who is training part-time to become a vicar, said he was shocked by the levels of financial hardship among some clergy when he took on the trust role.

“Clergy are not going to be serving their communities as well as they might if they’re worrying about paying bills or getting a holiday,” he said. “They live in a goldfish bowl in the vicarage. They need to get away but often they can’t afford it if they have got families.”

He said they often struggled to cover everyday costs, such as fixing a broken washing machine or paying for new school uniforms. Many clergy had an “innate tendency not to come forward for help”, Moodey added, also expressing concern for those who suffered relationship breakdown.

“There’s a sense of: ‘There are many in my congregation who are worse off than me. Why should I regard myself as a special case?’”

In the case of the vicar who was forced to use a payday loan firm, Moodey said: “He is now working through a debt repayment plan with a debt advice charity which is a partner of ours, with some help from us to get that sorted.”

Welby has previously attacked payday lenders, but his criticism backfired when it emerged the C of E held an indirect investment in the now defunct Wonga. Moodey said: “Payday lenders are causing significant suffering amongst the wider population and you would hope that clergy would be able to mirror what is the church’s position which is that, actually, payday lenders are bad news. But if you’re desperate and you really can’t make ends meet, then desperate people do desperate things.”

Most vicars receive a stipend of up to £27,886 plus housing but there are nearly 3,000 “self-supporting” ministers who are not paid, according to newly released C of E figures. The C of E’s website lists a series of adverts for “house for duty” roles, which are unpaid.

The majority of vicars receiving grants from Clergy Support Trust are in stipend roles but some are in non-stipend roles. Since the start of 2018, 7% of non-retired clergy helped by the charity were “self-supporting”. While for non-stipendiary vicars – who tend to be older and getting pensions from other careers – not being paid is often a choice, some do struggle financially, especially those in retirement.

Wilson said: “Mental health issues pose an increasing challenge, and I worry about retired non-stipendiary clergy and some clergy spouses who are in real difficulties. There is always more to be done, not only for individuals who are struggling, but in order to understand the underlying trends. Above all, it’s important that people experiencing problems alert archdeacons and bishops to what is going on.”

A C of E spokeswoman said: “We take the wellbeing of our 20,000 clergy extremely seriously. We note with concern the cases highlighted by Clergy Support Trust and we are grateful for its support for clergy struggling financially, as well as for the work of the Churches’ Mutual Credit Union, launched in 2015 with the backing of the Church of England.

“Problem debt is a widespread and serious issue in our society and it is worrying that a group of clergy is also affected.”

The C of E said it was “hugely appreciative” of self-supporting ministers “who work voluntarily for the church, many already with successful careers in the secular world”.

The C of E highlighted its own 2017 research findings, which showed that 80% of clergy were “doing all right” or “living comfortably”, adding: “The findings from this ongoing research, in particular the experiences of clergy who struggle financially, will inform a review of the clergy remuneration package by the Archbishops’ Council, which is due to get under way shortly.”

The archbishop of Canterbury’s stipend is set independently and Lambeth Palace also houses offices for staff and space for other groups, and welcomes visitors, the C of E added.

‘It’s not adding up’

He is a familiar face on TV screens, fronting BBC documentaries exploring religious issues.

But while many viewers will recognise the Rev Peter Owen-Jones, most will have no idea that he would not be able to continue in priesthood without charitable handouts.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Rev Peter Owen-Jones in his Firle parish. Photograph: Jim Holden/Alamy Stock Photo

The 61-year-old is a non-stipendiary vicar – serving the villages of Firle, Glynde and Beddingham in East Sussex – meaning he is not paid by the Church of England for his duties.

Instead, Owen-Jones is reliant on a yearly charitable grant of up to £3,000 and an “honorarium” from the diocese of £430 every quarter. “I would not be able to continue as priest were it not for the support of the Clergy Support Trust,” he said.

“I get a grant from them and I’ve had a grant from them for the last three or four years. This is my choice. I love being a parish priest. I’ve taken the moral decision to be a non-stipendiary priest because I think that just sits easier with me. I don’t have an issue with priests not being paid. I have an issue with that system subsidising what appears to be an unchanged and an unchanging centre.”

Last month, the former advertising executive revealed that in his early days as a vicar supporting a young family, he had once been so broke he made money posing naked for an art class.

In theory, Owen-Jones’s unpaid role – which comes with a house in Firle – is part-time, but the reality is different and he questions the C of E’s approach, describing its reliance on self-supporting ministers as “morally questionable” given that they are often expected to perform full-time duties.

Owen-Jones, who is divorced and has four adult children, said: “When I tell people I’m not paid they say: ‘What?’ This has been coming for 30 or 40 years. The more and more non-stipendiary priests, the greater the clamour will become.

“I think there is an increasing reliance on non-stipendiary vicars. How much of the church is being kept afloat by self-supporting ministry? Whether those ministers can continue to be treated as full-time ministers, that to me is morally questionable.”

In 2002 there were 2,091 self-supporting ministers, but that has now risen to 2,920 following a slight decline in recent years. Self-supporting ministers tend to be older, with an average age of 62.3 compared with 52.1 for stipend posts. Nearly a third (190) of vicars in training last year were preparing for non-stipendiary roles.

Owen-Jones, who was a stipendiary priest earlier in his career, added: “What’s happening is that the church is increasingly relying on what they call ‘self-supporting’ ministers and ‘house-for-duty’ priests.

“Essentially, non-stipendiary priests, self-supporting priests are subsidising that institution [the Church of England] as things currently stand.

“At the moment I believe it’s been happening under the counter. We need to have a frank and open discussion about whether the church can afford to maintain its working apparatus or whether there needs to be root-and-branch reform, given the number of people that are going to church and given the expectations that are placed upon the church by the state. At the moment it’s not adding up.”