A LETTER signed by more than 200 supporters of Cafod claims that help for the poorest people in the world would be put at risk if the charity goes ahead with plans to cut jobs and restructure.
Written by Cafod’s former head of education, Brian Davies, and signed by two MPs and representatives of the National Justice and Peace Network, among others, the letter addressed to the charity’s trustees accuses the agency of behaviour more suited to the corporate world than that of Catholic Social Teaching. Signatories include MPs Greg Mulholland and Chris Ruane, and Fr Gerard Murray, chairman of the Archdiocese of Birmingham’s Justice and Peace Commission.
The letter says there are “great concerns” about the way proposals for “radical” changes have been arrived at. Catholics in England and Wales have, the signatories say, generously supported Cafod for many years, and their continued backing is essential for the charity’s work. The steady growth in income from the Catholic community – now around £35 million annually, some two-thirds of the charity’s total – has been largely the result of the work of paid staff in each diocese, whose jobs are now under threat. “To close the offices and make staff redundant would put that income seriously at risk,” the letter states.
There are currently 21 diocesan offices in England and Wales, each one employing the equivalent of one and a half paid staff. These offices are due to be closed or staffed by volunteers. Cafod is planning to cut around 50 jobs in an effort to save £3m. The charity believes this is necessary because of a predicted loss of income following planned changes to the way Government allocates funds to development charities.
But the idea of replacing paid staff with volunteers is described in the letter as “most unrealistic … volunteers are increasingly difficult to find and … their training takes considerable time and resources”.
Fruitful relationships with parishes and schools up and down the country would be lost if the proposals go ahead, it says, and the way the proposals have been arrived at is also criticised.
“Cafod has issued a number of statements claiming that they followed consultation with various parties but it has notably failed to explain the nature of the consultation and to identify those consulted,” it claims.
The letter also raises concern about the way in which the “very committed” diocesan staff were excluded from a crucial stage of the discussions, and now fear redundancy, adding: “Such treatment does not accord with the Church’s social teaching and more resembles the behaviour of the corporate world.”
Cafod’s proposals were announced in November and a spokeswoman said all responses, including the letter to the trustees, would be taken into consideration. Cafod director Chris Bain said the point of the restructure plans was to ensure that, in a time of economic uncertainty, more funds go to the poorest communities overseas in line with the charity’s mission as the Catholic Church’s official aid agency for England and Wales, and that there were difficult choices to be made.
“We remain committed to our roots in the Catholic community at home, and as part of the planned, ongoing consultation we have received a wide range of feedback from staff, volunteers and supporters on current proposals to reduce costs and build for the future, including the letter referred to here,” said Mr Bain.
Dear Trustees
We are writing to convey to you our deep concern over the reported intention of the senior management team at Cafod to close all the diocesan offices and make staff redundant.
We are convinced, from our considerable experience of Cafod’s operations, that this course of action would, if put into effect, be directly contrary to Cafod’s interests and have gravely damaging consequences.
The number of signatories to this letter is indicative of the extent as well as the strength of feeling on this issue.
In the following paragraphs we set out the principal grounds for our concerns.
1. The diocesan staff are the vital interface between Cafod and the Catholic community in England and Wales.
2. Cafod has achieved so much over the years because of the support of that Catholic community and it depends for its very existence on that support continuing.
3. The steady growth in Cafod’s income from the Catholic community, so that it now amounts to over £35m annually, some two thirds of the total, is the result, to a large degree, of the activities and visible presence of the staff in each diocese.
4. To close the offices and make staff redundant would put that income seriously at risk.
5. The establishment of the diocesan offices was the result of a carefully planned strategic development going back over 30 years. A pilot scheme of one regional office for the north west - extending from Carlisle to Ludlow – was deemed a success and led to the establishment of seven such regional offices. Following an in depth review in 1990/91, which concluded that those seven regions were far too large, the number was increased to twelve and then to the present diocesan structure.
6. That strategic development derived from the recognition that a close relationship between front line staff and grassroots supporters is crucially important in maintaining and increasing awareness of and support for Cafod’s work.
7. The closure of the diocesan offices, and their replacement with four regional offices covering the whole of England and Wales, would reverse that strategic development and reject the careful evaluation and planning which underpinned it for so many years.
8. The four huge regions would inevitably result in a loss of that vital contact between Cafod as an agency and its supporters. It is quite simply impractical to envisage the present relationships being sustained over the massive distances which would be involved. In the light of our experience we believe that the expectation that volunteers could be recruited in large numbers, on which the proposed regions would depend, is most unrealistic. It is to be hoped that Cafod’s management now accepts that volunteers are increasingly difficult to find and that their training takes considerable time and resources.
9. The diocesan offices and staff are important in much else in addition to their role in fund raising. They play an essential role also in raising awareness in the Catholic community of the desperate plight of the poorest in the world through, for example, arranging meetings at which overseas partners speak to local gatherings. Coupled with that is promoting a recognition in the local communities of the moral imperative in Christ’s teaching to reach out and give help to those poor. The effect has been to make Cafod an important part of the spiritual lives of many Catholics – and indeed, for some who find difficulties with other teaching, the very thing which keeps them active members of the church.
10. Cafod’s important work in schools is similarly dependent on the involvement of the diocesan staff in promoting and organising it – and in recruiting schools volunteers to deliver it.
11. In all of these activities the diocesan staff have come to know and have developed close and fruitful relationships with numerous contacts in parishes and schools. All that would be lost if the proposed changes are put into effect.
12. The role of the diocesan staff is a challenging one involving a wide range of responsibilities. The considerable success which they have achieved reflects their commitment and professionalism. Additionally, however, Cafod’s senior management, as well as ensuring that their workloads do not become excessive, must have an overall vision in which that role and the related one of volunteers are clearly seen and understood.
13. In addition to our great concerns about the nature of these radical changes we are equally concerned about the way in which they have been arrived at. Cafod has issued a number of statements claiming that they followed consultation with various parties but it has notably failed to explain the nature of the consultation and to identify those consulted. The diocesan staff were not involved in any discussion of the proposals regarding staffing and the closure of the diocesan offices despite being the people who are directly affected and who possess the greatest relevant experience. The limited consultation which did take place with staff and volunteers (many volunteers were not consulted at all) gave no indication of how the range of activities could continue with a great reduction in staffing and the closure of the diocesan offices.
14. Many of the signatories to this letter, in addition to being Cafod supporters and volunteers, are or have been members of diocesan J&P commissions. Cafod recognised those commissions, from the time of their establishment in the 1970s, as its natural ally and provided co-financing for J&P fieldworkers. In its turn the J&P network provided the main constituency for CAFOD training which enabled a generation of Catholic activists to become well versed in a coherent programme of training which involved the witness of the poor, social analysis. theological reflection, spirituality, awareness raising, campaigning and lifestyle. Most importantly, the emphasis was always on how this training could be passed on to others. The signatories who have been involved in disseminating that programme more widely are acutely aware of the valuable role played by Cafod’s diocesan staff in this whole invaluable process.
15. It is ironic that Cafod is intent on these retrograde changes at a time when the Church is receiving such strong inspiration from Pope Francis with his central vision of “a Church which is poor and for the poor” (Evangelii Gaudium 198). This has long been Cafod’s guiding vision too.
16. It is also ironic that, when a much greater involvement of volunteers is envisaged, Cafod no longer has a programme of training the trainers. Pope Francis recognises that it will take time for his vision for the church to take effect. So too any changes to Cafod’s mode of operation
will take time and the full commitment of all diocesan staff is a prerequisite. To start any such process of change by getting rid of them would be misguided in the extreme.
17. We are concerned also by the way in which the very committed diocesan staff have been treated in this whole business. Not only, as we have already pointed out, were they excluded from a crucial stage of the discussions which led to the present position, but they have also been caused the great anxiety of facing the prospect of dismissal on the grounds of redundancy. Such treatment does not accord with the church’s social teaching and more resembles the behaviour of the corporate world.
18. Unfortunately, a number of supporters have made clear that they would switch their donations to another charity if these changes are put into effect. We should all seek to avoid that.
Catholics in England and Wales have been proud of Cafod for its work in developing countries and for the partnership established between the Church here and poor communities there. It was for this reason that Cardinal Hume described Cafod as “one of the glories of the Church in England and Wales” and “a bright light shining in a dark world.”
We urge you as trustees to ensure that all that is not put at risk and to instruct Cafod’s senior management to draw up different proposals which retain the essential and successful diocesan structure.
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