Retirement housing

Exterior view of residential home

Church of England Pensions Board

Retirement housing

For many clergy, retiring from ministry comes with the need to move to a new home, parish and community. Particularly if you have lived in tied accommodation for much of your ministry, this can feel daunting. Here at the Church of England Pensions Board, we can help you prepare for this transition and look at different housing options that might work for you. We also offer support during your retirement as circumstances change.

Who we help

  • Our retirement housing services are primarily designed to support retiring and retired clergy, as well as their spouses or partners, who have lived in Church accommodation for much of their ministry.
  • Our Community Living schemes also welcome applications from other groups connected with the Church.
  • Our welfare advice and housing support services are available to all Pensions Board customers in retirement, whether you are living in one of our properties or not.

 

Where to start

Someone typing into a laptop with a coffee

Helping you explore your housing options

This tool helps clergy and their spouses/partners explore different retirement housing options.

Here at the Pensions Board, we want you to find the right option for your retirement. This is why our team will talk to you about different options that might suit your circumstances, including options within the Church and with other providers.  A good place to start is the tool above, which helps you start to work out what choices you may have.

It is important to plan ahead, and we would be happy to begin a conversation with you up to 5 years before you plan to retire.

As well as working through the tool, you can also look at our guide to housing options.

For some more general advice about retirement planning, please visit our retirement planning webpage and our guide on planning for retirement.

Getting advice on home ownership

If you have some money saved towards a home of your own - whether at retirement or any point in life - you might want to get some expert, independent financial advice.

Money Helper is a good place for free guidance on home ownership.  

We have also partnered with Ecclesiastical Financial Advisory Services (EFAS) to offer discounted mortgage brokering and financial advice services.

Enabling Choice

Thank you to all who have offered their views so far as to how the Church might best support future cohorts of clergy with retirement housing. We appreciate your feedback.

We have now closed the online response form. It will take us some time to go through all the responses we have received, to help inform our next steps. In the meantime, should you have any further questions or reflections, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

As you start to look at different choices and options for retirement, here you can find more details of the housing options available within the Church, through our Community Living and Rental schemes.

We encourage you to contact us 5 years before you plan to retire. This ensures that we have the time to understand your needs and can discuss all the available options with you.

Please note that if you want to move into a rental property, it can take at least 2 years to plan that move well. It is therefore really important to get in touch with us as soon as you can.

For more information, read our Guide to Retirement Housing here.

If you are exploring home ownership options, this webpage outlines a range of options in ministry and at retirement.

"We have settled in well and love the house. We’re unpacked; all the boxes have gone to the tip. The neighbours have been kind and welcoming, and we feel so very grateful for this opportunity of a new beginning."

Customer feedback - October 2023

"We are very grateful to have this very important transition in our lives handled so sensitively."

Customer feedback - October 2023

Whether you live in one of our properties, your own home, or a rental property with another provider, our Welfare Advice and Housing Support services are here to help you as circumstances change during retirement. This can be helpful if you are struggling financially, or if you are experiencing a change in family circumstances, health needs or something else.

Your Privacy

Our privacy notice sets out how we use personal data that we hold about you and gives information on how to exercise your legal rights. You can find it here.

Contact us

We're here to help you. You can contact us by:

Phone on 0207 898 1824 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm)

Email at [email protected]

Post at PO Box 2026, Pershore, WR10 9BW