Church leaders are called to be good stewards of all that God provides for mission and ministry, as well as encouraging generous giving as part of our response to God’s love and faithfulness.
Although the PCC Treasurer will often lead on financial administration and management, it is everyone’s responsibility to utilise God’s provisions well, and especially all those on the PCC who have particular legal responsibilities.
This page provides resources to help everyone to understand parish finance and signposts to supporting resources.
Your key resources for managing church finance
- The Parish Resources website is a key resource for anyone wanting information about managing parish finances. This page is a summary of all the finance information you can find on there, from Accounting and Reporting practices to Gift Aid and lots more.
- It’s also useful to be familiar with the Parish Share system in the diocese if you’re not already.
- The current Diocesan Annual Report & Financial Statements provides you with a diocesan-wide picture of the financial health of the Church in this region.
Parochial Fees
Parochial Fees are those which are legally chargeable for weddings and funerals.
The national Church of England guidance and tables of parochial fees are updated every year in November, so keep checking back to this page to stay informed about fees changes.
Administration policies in the Diocese of Guildford for Parochial Fees are given below. Please download and read them carefully.
- Diocese of Guildford quarterly parochial fees form - updated June 2020
- Diocese of Guildford Parochial Fees Policy
Annual Parish Returns
Every year, the Church of England asks all parishes to complete two Annual Returns, one for Membership (previously referred to as Statistics for Mission) and one for Finance.
These are in addition to any Return required by the Charity Commission for any PCC which is a registered charity.
Some parishes find the completion of the parochial returns useful for their own purposes; the information, when collected over a period of years, can give a useful insight into the continuing life of the parish.
Parishes enter both sets of data online directly into the national church database of parish returns.
All parishes are asked to nominate a parish contact who will be provided with details to register the parish on the database. The parish contact can then enter the relevant data or set up one or more other people to do so. Further information is available from the Parish Support Team.
The only place at which Membership and Finance data can be submitted to the national database is parishreturns.churchofengland.org
The figures are used annually to assess emerging mission opportunities, for clergy deployment; allocations of new deacons; stipend support allocations; to monitor charitable giving; and to present a broad picture of the Church’s finances. For example, it is recognised that parishes are facing increased financial pressures, and if the Church nationally is to argue the case for government help (e.g. VAT relief on repairs) then a clear picture of how the expenditure is split over the various categories is needed.
Figures for giving (e.g. tax-efficient planned giving by gift aid; collections; legacies/bequests; and special appeals) are always very important, especially in the context of how the Church stewards its resources.
Raising funds
The Encouraging generous giving pages on this site offer lots of practical ideas and signposts to resources to help encourage generous giving in your Church.
There are also some excellent resources on the national Church of England website to your church check, reflect and plan for generous giving activities.
Gift Aid
The national Church of England website offers information and links to help with your Gift Aid declaration, which will help you raise an additional 25% on donations to your Church.