Each parish shares the generous gifts of its parishioners through a Free Will Offer to our Diocesan Common Fund, which is used entirely to sustain ordained and lay ministers, self-supporting and stipendiary, housed or living in their own housing.

Read more on this in ‘Resourcing our Diocese‘.

They do – as with all opportunities to exercise free will, the choice made will have consequences, and there’s more about this in other FAQs.

Parishes must consider a number of factors in determining the amount of their Free Will Offer to the Diocesan Common Fund, including affordability. A reduction in Free Will Offer compared with the previous year may be unavoidable, even after the parish has done all it can to raise funds and sensibly use reserves. However, a reduction in the amount of money in the Diocesan Common Fund will, in time, lead to a reduction in the level of ministry affordable in the diocese as a whole.

Where building costs are an issue, then the Funding & Community Engagement Officer can provide help on applying for grants. If the costs of maintaining a church building are unsustainable, then this is a matter for discussion with the archdeacons.

The 579 churches of the Diocese of York are served by a team providing support with safeguarding, church buildings and property, communications, schools liaison, clergy housing, human resources advice, ministerial discernment and selection, formation and education, finance, payroll, giving, synodical governance and much more; economies of scale enable these and other services to be provided cost-effectively as required.

Recently we asked an independent consultant to look at the shared support functions. They reported that most of the work undertaken is mandatory (e.g. safeguarding), essential (e.g. legal support) or key to achieving our Living Christ’s Story (LCS) outcomes (e.g lay training), with the few discretionary areas (e.g. provision of advice about church buildings and generous giving) either externally-funded or currently under-resourced to meet the demand. They were unable to find areas for major savings; rather they identified that York is under-resourced in a number of areas which sometimes means that we don’t have the capacity that we need to exploit funding opportunities or to improve processes for the benefit of parishes.

Read more on this in ‘Resourcing our Diocese‘ and browse this website to learn more about the support available.

In 2024 the Stipend – or living allowance – paid to full-time clergy is just over £30,000. In addition, most full-time clergy are housed (worth £12,000), receive annual training worth about £600, and the diocese pays about £10,000 in National Insurance and pension contributions. This amounts to over £52,000. Additionally, associated shared diocesan costs (see above and see ‘Resourcing our Diocese‘ for further information) covering essential administration, parish support services and new ministry costs amount to over £27,000 per full-time post at current levels.

The Church views all worshipping communities in terms of their missional potential and their ability to meet a pastoral need. Within the diocesan family of 579 churches our commitment to mission, like that of the national church through the Lowest Income Communities Funding scheme, includes support for churches close to home who may be in need.

All parishes go through a vacancy at some point, so any savings will even out over time. If a parish has difficulty making or paying a realistic Free Will Offer during a vacancy, then please speak to the Archdeacons, who are there to help and provide support.

The historic assets of the Church of England held by the Church Commissioners are endowments that are invested to produce income, or represent the value of properties. In reality the money available to spend is a very small proportion of their apparent wealth.

The Commissioners’ funds are legally required to cover historic clergy pension fund commitments, and to pay bishops’ stipends and some limited funding to cathedrals. They are obliged to resource some operational responsibilities arising from the relationship between the Church and Parliament.

The Commissioners do support the wider church via grants to support mission and ministry in dioceses.

Read more on this in ‘Resourcing our Diocese‘.

Curates are still in training and so are not expected to fulfil the whole role of a minister. Once they are trained, they are available to any parish in need of a vicar, and so the whole church does benefit.

Several of our curates are in larger churches and make a significant contribution to ministry there, and so we encourage our larger churches to make an extra contribution where they are able.

The level of reserves held by a parish should be considered when considering the appropriate level of Free will Offer to be pledged. Guidance on reserves is available on the Church of England’s Parish Resources website at parishresources.org.uk/the-pcc-as-a-charity/managing-reserves.

You can read about the diocesan reserves in the Resourcing our Diocese document and in the statutory accounts. Much of the diocesan reserves are restricted or endowed to produce income; the capital sums cannot be released to support general funds.