THE more than halving of funding for racial-justice work by the Church Commissioners is “bewildering” and ignores a decision taken by the General Synod only four months ago, the lead bishops for racial justice said this week.
The spending plans announced by the Triennium Funding Working Group (TFWG) on Monday include £12 million for “social and racial justice” — down from £26.7 million in the last triennium (News, 13 May 2022). The co-lead bishops for racial justice are the Bishop of Croydon, Dr Rosemarie Mallett, and the Bishop of Kirkstall, the Rt Revd Arun Arora.
“There is a great deal to welcome in the Church Commissioners’ package of distributions,” they said on Monday. “However, it is often remarked that the devil is in the detail . . . we are deeply concerned and troubled by the substantial reduction in the funding allocated for racial justice work.”
The statement drew attention to the motion passed by the General Synod in February, after consideration of the final report of the Archbishops’ Commission for Racial Justice (ACRJ) (News,28 February).
This included a clause recommending that the National Church “gives full consideration to the ACRJ’s appeal, key findings and recommendations; ensuring crucial resources remain available including an effective governance framework comprising a Racial Justice Board, Panel, and Lead Bishop; that funding for the next triennium and the staffing be made available at the national and diocesan levels.” It was carried, with 311 voting in favour and one against (News, 28 February).
On Monday, the co-lead bishops said that it was “deeply regrettable” that the TFWG had “chosen to ignore that decision and cut racial justice funding from previous levels. With this announcement coming a day after the Church celebrates Pentecost, we fear the message given by this decision is that the diverse multitude of voices of all the people of God are yet to be heard equally in the Church of England. In a Church that has set ‘growing younger and more diverse’ as one of its key strategic priorities this cut in funding is bewildering.”
A spokesperson for Church House, Westminster, said on Monday that, in the last triennium, “specific funding was made available to provide a short term ‘boost’ and make a significant change in the area of racial and social justice in the Church. At the time this was envisaged to be for one triennium only, to ensure a key focus on this area of work as the wider funding streams and approach became embedded.”
The TFWG had “recognised the importance of building on the work” and thus “allocated another specific amount towards racial and social justice in the upcoming triennium”. This amount “represents an increase compared with the illustrative plans presented in 2022”.
In response, Bishop Arora said that the 2021 report from Anti-racism Task Force, From lament to action, had identified areas that “required long term investment rather than short-term ‘boosts’” (News, 22 April 2021). The decision to make a “brutal cut” to the funding had been made without any consultation or reference to Synod, CMEAC, the lead bishops, or the racial justice unit, he said, and would “override the will of Synod”.
It was “a sadly demonstrative act of repeating the mistakes of the past”, he said. The 2021 report had warned that “over decades the Church of England had made commitments on racial justice at General Synod only for those decisions to be subsequently frustrated through lack of follow up or funding”.
The final report of the ACRJ recommended that funding for racial justice “should, at the very least, be maintained at the level that it has been for the past three years”. In his foreword, the Commission’s chair, Lord Boateng, warned: “Without the Racial Justice Unit being adequately resourced and every diocese funded to support this work, I am firmly of the view that we will not see the progress which we need to fulfil the promise of a Church adequately equipped to serve as our Lord demands of us.”
As of October 2024, £11.5 million had been allocated in racial-justice grants, with more than half going to dioceses. A further £4.3 million was allocated by the Archbishops’ Council for work within the NCIs. The final report noted that only 14 dioceses had appointed a racial-justice officer, and asked the Archbishops Council to ensure that all dioceses were able to afford a full-time officer in the next triennium.
