Exclusive:Job losses forecast at Church of Scotland to help plug multi-million pound deficit

Some places are also testing “team ministry” as a way of sharing ministers to cut costs.

Compulsory redundancies at the Church of Scotland are forecast as the Kirk grapples with a multi-million pound deficit.

Financial records show the church authority’s operating deficit for 2024 was almost £6 million - around £750,000 higher than was forecasted at its annual meeting last year.

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Church leaders said despite previous cost saving measures, the financial situation has worsened this year and “the Church of Scotland is at a tipping point in terms of its financial viability”.

They said “it is with a heavy heart” that they are making decisions that will affect staff.

Dwindling congregations and expensive upkeep costs of church buildings across the country have pushed the church authority into selling several of its properties in the last few years to try and plug the financial gap.

READ MORE: Significant complaints' over Church of Scotland sales as communities 'turned down' for highest bidder

According to 2025 figures, it is also scaling back on its budget for Seeds for Growth, an initiative which supports projects to reach out to people who do not belong to an existing church, from £2.2m to £500k.

In December 2024, there were 245,000 members of the Church of Scotland, a fall of 5.5 per cent from 2023.

In the past 10 years, (2014-2024) the number of members has fallen by 35 per cent.

The possible job redundancies are likely to have an impact on those in the church’s central team, according to a report shared ahead of the Kirk’s General Assembly this month, an annual event where decisions on the church’s future are made.

It comes after a voluntary redundancy move earlier this year did not satisfy the amount the church wanted to save.

Other cost-saving measures include testing “team ministry”, where some localities are trying out sharing ministers to lower costs in the presbytery.

This comes as the church said most of the cost-saving work to reduce its number of presbyteries in Scotland from 43 to around 12, a figure that was agreed in the 2019 Assembly, has been completed.

The latest report shows there are now just 11, with one of the latest being Clèir Eilean Ì, the Church of Scotland in the Highlands and Hebrides, which was formed in January last year.

It is a presbytery that stretches across 40 per cent of Scotland’s landmass, representing more than 100 Christian congregations from what were nine separate presbyteries from the Mull of Kintyre to John O’Groats, the Western Isles to West Moray.

Despite the already major shifts, church leaders said efforts made to date to shore up finances, reduce unnecessary expenditure, and attract enough new members to make up for the decline in membership and associated fall in financial contributions have not been enough to turn the tide.

Rev David Cameron, convener of the Assembly Trustees, said the Church of Scotland recognised the pain and loss being felt by many congregations. Picture: Church of Scotland

"More has to be done to ensure the Church can carry out its core mission of sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ," said Rev David Cameron, chair of the Assembly Trustees.

"Across the country local churches are making huge contributions to the wellbeing of their communities, inspired by their mission to express the love of Christ, and we owe it to them to ensure they can do that from a place of stability. That inevitably means a fundamental change in the way we work."

According to this year’s report, the church was tasked with making cost savings of £4 million per year to help steady its financial situation. The latest figures, however, show that not only had these necessary savings not been achieved, but that budgeted expenditure had actually increased from the figures presented last year.

As a result, and despite anticipated income being some £3.93 million higher than previously forecast, the first full draft budget for 2025 actually showed a deficit of £7.625 million, according to the report.

In October 2024, the Trustees refused to approve this budget and instructed its leadership team to come up with a further plan of action to significantly reduce the budgeted deficit and move towards a break-even position for 2027.

"That means we must reduce costs across the Church to bring our expenditures down to a sustainable level in line with our income,” Mr Cameron added.

“We are having to develop proposals and make difficult choices on staffing, services, and allowances at congregational level with a heavy heart, recognising the challenges that they present to all affected.

"The Trustees hold in prayer those whose roles are potentially affected, whose futures feel uncertain, and whose service has been faithful, trusting in God's guidance and grace as we move forward during this difficult time."

Some of the other decisions to be discussed at this year’s Assembly include a proposal that, in future, all ministers will be inducted on a reviewable tenure basis, moving away from the expectation of unrestricted tenure.

This year’s Assembly report also recognises that due to financial constraints, the church will not reach its goal of Net Zero by 2030.

Despite the financial difficulties, the Trustees said they are encouraged by projects under way in local churches that are "visionary, passionate, grounded in faith, committed to sharing the Good News and inspired by hope".

They estimate that by the end of 2026 these projects will be reaching 4,000 young people, with 650 young people involved in "more intensive faith-based work".

Other initiatives planned include planting new churches in student areas based on recent work by the Church Revitalisation Trust.

The church has come under fire recently from community groups from the way it has been handling the sales of its properties.

Communities have accused the kirk authority of overlooking community groups for the highest bidder when it comes to selling up local church buildings.

Braemar Kirk is a 19th century building in the heart of the Aberdeenshire village | Supplied

Community Land Scotland, one of the leading bodies that represents communities across the country, said it is receiving “significant complaints” about sale processes.

The religious body has also been accused of making the purchase process unnecessarily complicated for communities.