Finance in the Church of England

The Church of England is a made up of a large number of separate charitable entities, with each of them responsible for their own finances.

England is divided into around 13,500 parishes, each of which is a separate charitable organisation, and each responsible for managing their own finances and producing a Annual Report and Accounts. This is presented to the Annual Parochial Church Meeting in each parish.  The Church of England has produced some support resources for treasurers, available on the Parish Resources web site and in a publication, The Charities Act and the PCC, a copy of which can be downloaded here as a pdf (965kb). A copy of the book, or a simpler guide for parishes with income under £100,000, can be ordered from Church House Bookshop (full guide) and (shorter guide) )

England is divided into 42 dioceses, each of which are responsible for administering and financing ministry in their area. The word diocese comes from the Greek word for “administration” or “housekeeping”. Each Diocese contains a Registered Charity, often the Diocesan Board of Finance, which administers an annual budget approved by the Diocesan Synod, and also produces annual report and accounts. The Church of England also includes the dioceses of Sodor and Man, covering the Isle of Man, and the Diocese of Europe.

There are also some central bodies which have a key role to play in managing the church’s finances. The Church Commissioners seek to obtain the best possible long term return from a diversified investment portfolio in order to meet their pension commitments and to provide the maximum sustainable funding for their other purposes such as support for the work of bishops, cathedrals and parish ministry.  The Finance Committee of the Archbishops’ Council plays an important role in helping establish financial policy, and in enabling the cost of central functions such as training of candidates for ordination to be shared out equitably between the different dioceses. The Church and Community Fund makes a limited number of grants to support parishes across the country.

Because the Church of England is such a complex network of organisations, the Financial Policy unit of Archbishops’ Council has produced a short summary of what the finances of the Church would look like if it were a single entity. To find out more about how the Church is funded click here.