Background Information

The Church of England
The smallest pastoral area in the Church of England is the parish. Each parish usually has one parish church (although it may have more) and may also have one or more chapels of ease (often called daughter churches). A benefice is a parish or group of parishes served by an incumbent, and by carrying out spiritual duties in the parishes of a benefice the incumbent is entitled to a stipend and parsonage house. A deanery is a group of benefices over which a rural dean has oversight and an archdeaconry is a group of deaneries for which an archdeacon is responsible. A diocese is the main administrative and pastoral area of the Church of England and may contain several archdeaconries under the leadership of a diocesan bishop assisted by suffragan bishops.

Parochial Church Councils
The parochial church council (PCC) is the elected governing body of a parish. It is made up of the incumbent (who is the chairman), the churchwardens and a number of elected members. PCCs are independent charities excepted from registration with the Charity Commission. Their annual report and accounts may be obtained by contacting the relevant PCC secretary. PCC accounts do not form part of these accounts.

Deanery Synod
Deanery synods have two houses; laity, mainly people elected by their parishes, and clergy, mainly the beneficed and licensed clergy in the deanery. The role of deanery synod is to consider matters concerning the Church of England; to bring together the views of the parishes of the deanery; to effect decisions made by Diocesan Synod; to act as a channel of communication to express the views of deanery synod to Diocesan Synod and thence to General Synod; to respond to requests from General Synod; to raise with Diocesan Synod such matters as it considers appropriate; and to elect representatives of the deanery to the Diocesan Synod and of the diocese to General Synod. Deanery Synods do not generally have significant financial transactions.

Diocesan Synod
The Diocesan Synod is the statutory governing body of a diocese. Its members are also the members of the Board. It is elected with representation from all parts of the diocese and roughly equal numbers of clergy and lay people (laity), who meet together in Synod with the Bishop and other senior clergy. The role of Diocesan Synod is to consider matters concerning the Church of England and make provision for such matters in relation to its diocese; to act as a forum for discussion of Christian opinion on any matter (religious or public interest); to advise the Bishop on any matter on which he may consult it; to deal with matters referred by General Synod and to refer matters to the General Synod; and to make provision for the financing of the diocese as the Diocesan Board of Finance.

The financial affairs of Salisbury Diocese are undertaken through two registered charities:
• Salisbury Diocesan Board of Finance (registered charity number 240833)
• Salisbury Diocesan Board of Education (registered charity number 1059195

General Synod
The General Synod is the legislative and deliberative body of the Church of England at national level. It makes decisions on doctrinal matters, liturgical matters and relations with other Churches. It passes Measures which, if accepted by Parliament, have the force of Acts of Parliament. The General Synod contains three groups or houses of members with members from every diocese; the Houses of Bishops, of Clergy and of Laity. The Houses of Bishops and Clergy together form the two
Convocations of the Province of Canterbury and the Province of York. Reporting to General Synod, but not subordinate to it is the Archbishops’ Council, which is the Church of England’s policy discussion forum.

Independent of the Archbishops’ Council, but co-operating closely with it, the Church Commissioners manage the historic assets of the Church of England, spending most of their income on pensions for the parochial clergy. The financial transactions of General Synod, the Church Commissioners and the Archbishops’ Council do not form part of these accounts.

Parochial Church Councils (PCCs)
The main part of the Board’s income is the contribution of parish Share from the parishes in the diocese, with each parish being governed by its PCC. The Board assesses the parish Share to PCCs under the “Fairer Share” method of apportionment introduced in 2005, but the payment of the parish Share is essentially a voluntary donation by PCCs to the Board. As referred to above, the Board also acts under Measure as custodian trustee in relation to PCC property and endowments.

Who pays the Vicar?
Vicars are paid by the Church Commissioners - an organisation that 'employs' clergy among other things they do. Vicars are not paid a 'wage' or 'salary' but a stipend. This is a sum of money, payable monthly, that is meant to enable the vicar to live so that he or she can be released from other employment carry out the duties of a parish priest.

The Commissioners receive their money for clergy stipends partly from investment, but a great deal of it is paid by the dioceses - areas of the country roughly as large as a county under the direction and care of a bishop. The dioceses in turn receive their payment from the individual parishes by the 'Parish Share'. Each parish is assessed to determine its ability to pay so that affluent parishes in affluent areas pay far more for their parish share than less affluent parishes. This is the fairest method, as poor parishes in deprived areas are often those in greatest need of a parish priest or even two not only to lead worship, but also for the greater need of pastoral care in those areas.

The Parish Share is paid from an individual parish's funds - raised through the collection plate and by fundraising. Hence churches receive no payment except that which is donated by their members and friends or through fundraising, or occasionally from weddings or church hall lettings.

As an example, a deprived church in a poor area might be expected to pay anything from £5,000 - £12,000 per year for their parish share. A large, affluent church might be expected to pay over £50,000 per year, therefore helping subsidise the poorer church.

In a church which is jointly Anglican and Methodist, in a deprived area, you might have to find around £22,000 per year just to pay our parish share and the equivalent to the Methodist Church to help pay for a part time Methodist minister - before you even consider other expenses like service costs, photocopying, heat/light/maintenance and our tithe (10%) to charity etc.

Nowadays, many more are seeking ordination later in life, sometimes becoming voluntary priests whilst working at a normal job in the week, or by living on a retirement pension and being a voluntary priest if they retire early. These 'non-stipendary ministers' (NSMs) help free more funds for the church in general to help poorer parishes and to aid mission overseas in the porest areas of the world.

Another trend is that sometimes an income can be generated by a priest ordained late in life renting out their home if they have one, to provide an income. They are then allowed to live in a vicarage free of charge in return for which they do some of the duties of a parish priest. These 'house-for-duty' priests are becoming more common in small parishes where not enough work is available for a full time minister.

The big advantage of the Anglican system is that the vicar has the 'cure of souls' of a parish. This means that anyone in the parish, whether churchgoer or not, has a legal right to pastoral care by their vicar, as the Anglican Church is the established church in England.

Therefore, when your local church holds out the begging bowl for funds, please remember that the position of the vicar can only be provided if the parish can afford to pay at least something towards his or her stipend. You may not need his or her services (no pun intended) at the moment, but someone else will.

Stipends
There were some 230 paid clergy posts in the Salisbury Diocese in 2007, though at any one time a number of these are vacant. The clergy are not employees, but are paid stipends to enable them to undertake their ministry. The Salisbury Diocese Board continued to provide stipends to clergy in the diocese, together with meeting their employer’s national insurance and pension contributions. In 2007 the Salisbury Diocese Board spent nearly £6.3 m on these costs, making it by far the largest item of expenditure.

Housing and Property
Although not all owned by the Salisbury Diocese Board, the Board has responsibility for maintaining and insuring all the houses in which the clergy live (usually called the Rectory or Vicarage). This involves dealing with planned maintenance works, numerous day to day minor repairs as well as more major renovation works during vacancies. In 2007 these costs totalled nearly £1.7m.

A new purpose-designed parsonage house was constructed in the village of Lyneham in north Wiltshire, incorporating a number of energy saving and environmentally friendly features including an air source heat pump for the central heating system.