Review of Clergy Terms of Service

In December 2002, the Archbishops' Council set up a group under Professor David McClean to review the terms under which the clergy hold office, following the Council's response to the DTI's discussion document Employment Status in relation to Statutory Employment Rights.

The Group's first report focused on improving security of tenure for clergy without the freehold. It proposed a new form of tenure called Common Tenure, which would replace most fixed-term appointments and allow clergy to remain in office until retirement unless they were shown by a capability procedure not to be meeting minimum standards.

This second report examines how Common Tenure might be applied to all clergy with the freehold and considers how questions relating to clergy ownership of property might be resolved to allow this to happen. It also develops recommendations from the first report on Human Resources provision for clergy and ministerial review.