The office and working costs of the 113 diocesan and suffragan bishops in the Church of England amounted to almost £15,600,000 during the year ending 31 December 2010, 4% more than in 2009, according to a 24-page report released by the Church Commissioners on 27 October 2011. Three-fifths of the expenditure was on office and support staff and 17% on the working costs of bishops. Details are given for each individual bishop, as they have been annually since 2000. Prior to that, only the aggregate cost of bishops was published. The report is available at:
http://www.churchofengland.org/media/1351515/bishops%20office%20and%20working%20costs%202010.pdf
However, the document does not tell the whole story. In particular, the Commissioners’ own administrative costs (£800,000) are excluded from the above total, as is the £5,100,000 they spent on the stipends, employer’s national insurance and pension contributions of bishops, and the £5,400,000 on maintaining the houses, office premises and gardens of the archbishops and diocesan bishops (the housing costs of suffragan bishops are met by the dioceses). Attempts by the Commissioners to save money by moving diocesan bishops out of their historic homes have caused much controversy, notably (of late) over Rose Castle, home to the Bishops of Carlisle since the thirteenth century.
