- Financial relationship with The Cathedral Trust
An unusual aspect of our financial structure is that there is a separate body, called The Cathedral Trust (the “Trust”), which owns the Cathedral building, the Narthex and Cathedral House. The parish is effectively a tenant of the Trust, and pays a fixed rental amount per year, which in 2023 was c. £60k. This means that if there are any large repairs and maintenance needed for these buildings, it is the responsibility of the Trust rather than the parish. The rental paid to the Trust has stayed the same for a number of years, while the costs of running and maintaining the estate have grown significantly (e.g. heating, lighting and repair costs). The income that the Trust receives from the parish and other income sources is significantly less than its expenditure, with the shortfall being in the region of £100,000 per year[1].
In future, the parish will need to contribute more to reduce this current shortfall in the maintaining of the Cathedral’s estate, but if the parish is going to be able to afford to do this, then it will have to increase its main regular source of income, which is offertory donations from parishioners. This will be discussed with parishioners later in 2024, when the parish will take part in the diocese’s stewardship programme.
- Summary of our result for 2023
Overall summary
In 2023, the parish received income of £276,721 and had expenditure of £223,341. This meant that the parish recorded a surplus of £53,380.
Comparison to 2022
Sections 4 and 5 provide a breakdown of types of income and expenditure in 2023, with 2022 shown for comparison. The two main reasons why income was a lot higher in 2022 (£329,340 .v. £276,721) were because we received some large one-off legacies and we accounted for some gift aid rebates due to us from previous tax years.
Comparison to budget
Our actual surplus achieved for the year was £12,242 more than our budgeted surplus of £41,138. The main reason for the higher surplus was because offertory donations were higher, with these increasing by £23,055 or 18% over the year. This positive variance against the budget was partially offset by staff salaries being higher than we had budgeted, because of additional hours worked by staff in 2023 and a higher-than-budgeted inflationary pay award given to staff in April 2023, to reflect the higher than expected cost-of-living pressures facing staff at that time.
- Summary of parish funds as at 31st December 2023
A summary of the parish’s funds as at 31st December 2023 is given below:
| £ | |||
| Cash (held in bank accounts) | 183,622 | ||
| Other assets (such as money owed to us by debtors) | 14,417 | ||
| Total funds | 198,039 | ||
Represented by:
| £ | |||
| Restricted funds | 159,502 | ||
| Unrestricted funds | 38,537 | ||
| Total funds | 198,039 | ||
The majority of funds we hold are for restricted purposes. The main category of restricted funds is our share of funds donated by parishioners in previous years to the diocesan Alive in Faith project.
- Income
The table below breaks down our income sources for 2023 and compares the amounts to 2022.
- Expenditure
The table below breaks down our expenditure sources for 2023 and compares the amounts to 2022.
Chair of the Finance Committee
April 2024
[1] Based on the most recently published financial statements for the Trust