Clergy Pensions Institution

Volumes of signed minute books recording the meetings of the Clergy Pensions Institution (CPI). This includes annual meetings, board meetings and committee meetings of the Institution, among others.

Board meeting entries typically include a report from finance of a statement of accounts and actuarial reports from the previous year; as well as tables of annual distribution of income and applications for augmentation. Entries are usually made under the following headings: number of beneficiaries on books, investments, balance in bank. The majority of the volumes record the names of those in attendence. Lists of names of those appointed to diocesan committees of the Instituiton are also recorded, as are pay reviews of those employed by the body.

Minutes include any proposed amendments to the Articles of Association of the Institution and any changes passed. Copies of correspondence from members are typically requests for augmentation detailing the particular circumstances of the applicant and the decision of the board in response is recorded.

The Clergy Pensions Institution had its origins in a public conference held in January 1885 on the subject of a growing elderly clergy. The problem facing the church was of clergy aging or ailing to the extent that they could not fulfill ministerial duties sufficiently but needed to retain their benefices.

As a result of discussion, a committee was formed to address the problem by devising a practical solution. A plan was presented and accepted at a second conference held in July 1885.

The Clergy Pensions Institution was conceived as a means to facilitate the retirement of the clergy. Its methods were self-help on the part of individual members of the clergy who purchased an annual subscription, graduated according to age, that secured him an annuity upon retirement at the age of 65. In addition, he would have a claim, on becoming unbeneficed, to a proportionate share in a general fund derived from extraneous sources such as donations or legacies.

The committee undertook the work of founding the Institution and appointing the Board of Directors and ceased to exist once the Institution had been successfully registered under the Friendly Societies Act.

The Institution held its first meeting in 1886 and became a company in 1892 under the Companies Act 1862 to 1890.

It operated in the same format until 1926 when its functions passed to the Pensions Authority as a result of the Clergy Pensions Measure.

Management of the Institution's affairs after this were in the hands of a Committee of Management comprising members of the Finance and General Purposes Committee of the Church of England Pensions Board which was subject to confirmation by the Board of the CPI.

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