PCC News

The Bishop’s Council called for a review of the Parish Share allocation method in 2012, following accumulated defi cits for the Diocesan Board of Finance of over £2 million in a four year period, and falling income from Parish Share. After consultation in 2013, and unanimous approval by Diocesan Synod, a new Parish Share allocation method was introduced in January 2014, called TRiO – ‘The Responsibility is Ours’.

Details of Trio can be found in the leaflet “Paying for the Church’s Ministry – Parish Share and TRiO explained” – a copy of which should now be with every PCC. It can also be found on the Diocesan website.

How is it calculated?

For the sake of clarity, we divide the cost of mission and ministry into two:

• The direct cost of placing one full-time stipendiary priest into a benefice. This includes the stipend, employer’s national insurance, pension contributions, housing, training and support. This is adjusted if there is more or less than one full-time post, i.e. part-time or House for Duty.
• The additional costs of mission and ministry in the Diocese – Diocesan Mission Support. This includes the training of our curates and readers, support for church schools, central administration, social and community concerns, support for youth and children’s work, establishing new churches, training for the laity, DAC and legal costs, etc.

Support

Support can be off ered in a variety of ways, including fi nancial, assistance with growth plans or stewardship campaigns.

We receive a grant each year from the Church Commissioners whose purpose is to support struggling parishes. We have used a proportion of this grant to fund the transition process from the old Parish Share allocation method to the new. The remainder is given directly to Benefices by way of a reduction in their request.

The process

Each benefice receives its Benefice Share request at the beginning of July. Multi-parish benefices then need to meet to agree how the share will be divided between each parish. Agreed amounts for each parish for 2017 need to be passed to the Diocesan Finance Department by the end of November. Where benefice believes that it cannot realistically meet the challenge, a meeting will be held to assess the nature and level of support needed. These meetings normally take place in November.