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Ministers' Relief Fund

If you are a clergy person or a licenced lay worker in the Diocese of York, and are worried about meeting unexpected bills or growing personal debt, the Ministers’ Relief Fund may be able to help.

The Ministers’ Relief Fund


The Ministers Relief Fund (MRF) gives grants to relieve financial need, hardship or distress amongst serving and retired clergy and their dependents. It doesn’t matter why this has come about, whether it’s through illness, accident, or if problems have to build up over a longer period.

Whether it is an unexpectedly large repair bill, help with the cost of getting to hospital appointments or the build-up of credit card debt that is keeping you awake at night, MRF is here to support you in your ministry. It is managed entirely confidentially and the income comes from an endowment fund which is managed independently.

The Ministers Relief Fund (MRF) gives grants to relieve financial need, hardship or distress amongst serving and retired clergy and their dependents. It doesn’t matter why this has come about, whether it’s through illness, accident, or if problems have to build up over a longer period.

Unfortunately, the Fund isn’t able to help with ongoing costs (e.g. school or medical/care fees), but it may be able to assist with short term changes in circumstances or the additional one off costs that inevitably arise such as specialist health care equipment, replacing critical domestic appliances or keeping a vehicle on the road after an unexpected and expensive MOT-related repair.

Who can we help?

We can support licensed clergy and licensed lay workers, together with their dependents (generally those living within their household). We are also able to help retired clergy and their spouses, and also surviving spouses following the death of their ordained partner.

The terms of the endowment unfortunately do not extend to Readers, or other lay ministers.

How to apply for assistance:

Any application or call will be treated in complete confidence.

Please note that the Ministers' Relief Fund operates independently from Diocesan Board of Finance, but seeks to support all those engaged in ordained ministry within the Diocese of York.

If you would like to discuss your application, the clerk would be happy to arrange for an initial conversation with one of the lay trustees.

In cases where there are real financial challenges in the clergy household, the trustees may invite applicants to have a conversation with one of their lay members to try to put together the most appropriate package of support.

The Trustees of the Fund are:

Four Ex-Officio Trustees

Two Nominated Trustees

One Co-opted Trustee