ONE of the region's leading bishops is calling for senior clergy to take a pay cut to help finance a recommended increase in the stipends of ordinary clergy.

The Clergy Stipends Review Group is recommending that clergy should get a minimum of £20,000, plus housing, a year - an increase of 18 per cent on current figures.

It wants a new definition of the stipend and a benchmark for paying clergy that is linked to the salaries of headteachers at large primary schools.

However, it is also calling for the differentials for bishops and other senior positions to be maintained - something the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds is firmly against.

While agreeing with the increase in general level of stipends, he wants archdeacons, bishops and archbishops to take a pay cut to provide a better income for the clergy.

"Differentials are inappropriate within the ordained ministry of the Christian church," said the bishop, the Right Reverend John Packer.

"Paying clergy a stipend, or expenses of living, of around 80 per cent of the salary of a primary school headteacher is not inappropriate, but that should be the level of stipend for all ordained clergy, myself included."

The bishop is also unhappy that the report from the review group fails to recommend family allowances for clergy with young children who are facing hardship.

The review group was set up two years ago and its report, Generosity and Sacrifice, has made a series of 30 recommendations to the Church of England.

The definition of a stipend was laid down in 1943 as "maintenance allowance to enable a priest to live without undue financial worry".

However, the review group found that had seldom been the case - and received much evidence that many clergy experienced significant financial hardship.