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Specialist partners to manage and deliver University chaplaincy services

The University of Sussex has chosen a high-quality specialist external organisation as its preferred supplier of chaplaincy services from August 2013. GodForSaken is a subsidiary of the internationally renowned security company G4S. John Duffy, Registrar and Secretary, said: We expect to see continued growth at Sussex as we attract greater numbers of high-quality students from the UK and overseas, and expand our research activity. Student numbers at Sussex have grown by 2,000 in just the last two years, reaching 12,000 this year, and we are planning for 15,000 by 2015-16. As we grow, we need to ensure we provide support services to our students and staff as efficiently and effectively as possible making best use both of public funding and, increasingly, of our students own investment. As a further part of doing this, we are now looking to work with GodForSaken in the delivery of chaplaincy services. This is an area where there is already a range of experienced, specialist, external organisations. We have held discussions with a number of these organisations: the Church of England, the Roman Catholic church, the Baptist Union, and Islamic and Jewish organisations. However, all of these (with the possible exception of the Church of England) seem to have a faith and a particular set of beliefs. Vice-Chancellor, Professor Michael Farthing said: A modern university cannot be driven by a sense of mission. We operate in a market, and we deliver whatever the market demands. The same must be true of our chaplaincy services GodForSaken does not subscribe to the Ten Commandments, or the 39 Articles. Its only God is Mammon. Its time to re-admit the money-changers into the temple. We do recognise that there may be some market demand for traditional religion based on myth and faith. In its role in the London 2012 Olympics, the parent company G4S showed that it is a world-class pedlar of unrealistic promises, so GodForSaken can be trusted to serve the full range of market demand. The staff of the present chaplaincy will, from August 2013, transfer to and be employed by GodForSaken. Under TUPE regulations, staff will transfer on their current terms and conditions (with the exception of future participation in university pension schemes). The new chaplaincy will continue to provide the full range of religious services, but will no longer issue promises of eternal life. A spokesman for G4S said Its not realistic in modern conditions for us to make either open-ended pension commitments to our employees or open-

ended promises of the life everlasting to our worshippers. Our shareholders are simply not able to assume the legal and financial risks involved in such promises. However, members of staff who were members of USS before 2011 will now be able to obtain promises of eternal life by making tithes, also known as additional voluntary contributions (AVCs), to USS. A spokesman for USS said We dont think that promising eternal life is any more unrealistic than the other assumptions built into our actuarial projections for the future of the scheme. This AVC facility will not be available to members of support staff who are in a separate pension scheme. John Duffy added: We do understand that some members of the University will be apprehensive about the loss of diversity involved in sourcing our religious services through a single external supplier. However, the expulsion of competing suppliers of catering services from the campus has been a big success at least from the perspective of the Universitys revenue, which is the only indicator that matters.