Realigning staff and new staff members in the lead up to the 2021 Cathedrals Measure

Portsmouth Cathedral will come under the new Cathedrals Measure in late summer 2023. This is a major piece of work as we review and then renew our governance structures, policies, and procedures, as part of these changes, realignments have been made in our staff structures.

Once registered as charity with the Charity Commission, the Cathedral will be governed by the new Measure which sees joint jurisdiction by the Charity Commission and Church Commissioners. There is much to do between now and then.

Given the small size of the staff team, the Cathedral is grateful to the Cathedral Sustainability Fund (CSF) for granting funds in mid-September that will enable staff to be freed up to work on the Measure and related activities over the next 12 months.

From the end of this month, Liz Snowball will take on the role of primary lead for the Cathedrals Measure alongside her duties as Dean’s EA and Office Manager. Liz will continue to manage activities such as the Civic services as well as oversight of the administrative assistants, HR, and IT.

In order to free Liz up to take on this work, Nicky Taylor Roberts, our Finance Officer, will take on the duties for the next 12 months of reviewing the way we operate and creating a series of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). As part of this work Nicky will take on the Records Management brief and work to maximise the benefits of our databases. She will retain aspects of her current role and we have recruited a one-year Finance Officer to back fill much of her substantive post. Clare Martin started with us on Monday (3 October). She comes to us with many years finance experience in customer facing private sector organisations.

Richard Abraham, our Chief Operating Officer, has already taken on the fundraising lead in the absence of a Head of Fundraising. He will continue to lead on all other aspects of the operations and sustainability of the Cathedral including development of our 2027 building plans, funding plans and our relationship with the Diocesan Board of Finance and Church Commissioners.

The Dean says, “I am very grateful to the team for their flexibility and resourcefulness as we focus on these key priorities – all of which are equally important and all of which need dedicated staff time. We are once again in the debt of the Cathedral Sustainability Fund and thank them for their continued support as we work to deliver our Vision and Strategy; not least in meeting the challenge of financial sustainability.”