church commissioners
In this period PGS has moved from only being available in some dioceses to being funded by the Church Commissioners and available to every parish – and PGS is now accessible online.
I understand that the next quinquennium will continue to work on the Governance Review that Bishop Andrew chaired, as well as addressing the questions about how money from the Church Commissioners is allocated.
More recently in response to our national biodiversity crisis I delivered a Private Members Motion to challenge our Church Commissioners to reconsider their land portfolio to help respond to the current ecological emergency.
Nevertheless, here, as everywhere else in the Church of England, that is the inevitable end if the Church Commissioners continue to spend their money as they do now.
The first thing, then, that the Synod can do is to change the National Church Governance Measure so that the Church Commissioners’ money is used for its proper purpose: supporting parish ministry.
Recently the Church Commissioners approved a plan to unite six benefices in the Kerrier deanery in the Diocese of Truro to create a single massive benefice comprising 21 churches.
The Church Commissioners’ historic endowment was intended primarily for parishes, but in 2018 this restriction was removed. £176 million was spent through the Strategic Development Fund, and £476 million has been spent on or allocated to the Diocesan Investment Programme, for time-limited projects which are not parishes.
Synod needs more detail and clarity to be sure that this will be an effective and focussed use of Church Commissioners’ assets.
Campaigning and bringing pressure to bear on both the Church Commissioners and Archbishops
Our biggest win was a massive effort to put back into law the rule that Church Commissioners' money must be spent on poorer parishes.
The finances of the Church of England are top heavy, with millions of pounds from the Church Commissioners being spent on questionable projects.
At the end of 2025, the Church Commissioners’ endowment was worth £11.6bn, and produced an 8% investment return.
• to redirect more of the income of the Church Commissioners’ very substantial endowment
I have built up good relationships with key individuals, including the Church Commissioners and staff of the NCI’s.
— Save the Parish is a brilliant group that I am involved with which instigated the motion that asked the Church Commissioners to spend some of their £11.6 billion to support Parishes.
We need to ensure that Parishes get the support that they need from both the Church Commissioners and Archbishops’ Council.
The Church Commissioners, having once spent its entire distributable income exclusively on stipends, accommodation and pensions for parish clergy now spends virtually nothing on those objects.
Instead, the Church Commissioners is distributing hundreds of millions from its £11.6 billion endowment towards time-limited grants – funding an army of staff at diocesan level to implement ideologically-driven policies on net zero and racial justice – as well as more staff to help complete more grant applications.
I will continue to scrutinise financial decisions made by the Church Commissioners, The Archbishops Council and the House of Bishops and advocate for investment that enables parish ministry to flourish.
Governor and Church Commissioners 1992-2024
As a Governor and Trustee of the Church Commissioners, he served on the Board 1992-2024; Deputy Chair: Mission Pastoral and Church Property Committee (10+years) and Assets Committee (£11.6bn). Member of the ‘Green Guide’ for Parsonages Working Party - he reviewed it as part of the Mission and Pastoral Measure Review. Elected Member of the GS Mission and Public Affairs Council working with and advising the Bench of Bishops on Policy Issues in The House of
During these past 5 years, I have endeavoured to live up to that trust shown in me as an active full-time Christian participant in all spheres of Synodical Government culminating in my re-election as a Church Commissioner and re-appointment as the longest serving Governor of The Church Commissioners.
The good news is that we saved the Clergy Conduct Measure 2025 – because we separated Safeguarding and made it our number 1 priority saying we would pay whatever it costs in compensation to the many victims through the Church Commissioners.
I have asked questions on behalf of Church members, most recently about Festival Churches.I am always happy to raise concerns which people let me know about, such as recently about development of land belonging to the Church Commissioners.
More money from the Church Commissioners should go directly to support parish ministry, without competing against other parts of the church.
In synod’s last quinquennium, the redistribution or redirecting of key assets and Church Commissioners’ finances was raised on numerous occasions.
I will advocate for the maximum sustainable share of Church Commissioners' funds to reach parishes, stipendiary ministry and the least-resourced communities.
Church Commissioners’
➢ I want to see the Church Commissioners funds restored to their founding purposes of supporting stipendiary parish clergy.
Diocesan Ministry Steering Group, which is overseeing the renegotiation of the funding which dioceses receive from the Church Commissioners.
The renegotiation of Church Commissioners’ funding to dioceses is now at a critical stage, and rural dioceses like ours tend to suffer from models with an urban focus.
engage with the Church Commissioners about a better funding settlement for dioceses and parishes.
A mixed ecology is really important, and needs the support of the Church Commissioners and General Synod.
Church finances: The Church Commissioners contribute nearly £400m each year to help finance the Church of England.
I was briefly a member of the last General Synod from 2019–21, and now serve nationally on the Church Commissioners’ Mission, Pastoral and Church Property Committee.
The Church Commissioners’ resources exist
This commitment needs to be embraced at every level of church from the parish to the Church Commissioners with words and action on the climate crisis we are living through.
One example was my involvement in bringing the issue of the redistribution of Church Commissioners' funds to be passed at Garstang Synod and from there to be successfully passed by Blackburn Diocesan Synod through the Hereford Motion.
Church Commissioners' Slavery and Reconciliation Working Group Contributed to important discussions concerning historical accountability, reconciliation, and the Church's ongoing commitment to justice and healing.
- Better financial support from the Church Commissioners to parishes,
volunteers, whereas the diocese and Church Commissioners can call upon lawyers and staff.
Furthermore, I will push for the Church Commissioners to manage our national assets and agricultural land with high ethical and ecological standards, modeling true environmental justice.
I will work with others to restore the Church Commissioners' funds to their founding purpose: stipendiary parish ministry.
As a member of General Synod I would support moves to redirect dividends paid out from endowments (themselves worth £11.6 billion), controlled by the Church Commissioners, back towards their original purpose – that of supporting ministry in parishes where assistance is most required.
I will vote to channel Church Commissioners' funds towards local parish ministry, frontline resources, and initiatives that
n 2024, I proposed the amendment which brought the Church Commissioners’ assets within the scope of the Land and Nature mo- tion.
As part of the group encouraging the Church Commissioners to engage fully with interna- tional commitments on nature restoration, I would like to continue this work, monitoring progress and asking challenging questions where necessary.
Financial support for parishes – both for ministry and for maintaining church buildings, and how the Church Commissioners use their historic resources – will be a key issue.
regarding distribution of the Church Commissioners assets (the Hereford Motion) to Garstang Deanery Synod, and then Blackburn Diocesan Synod.
I’ve also actively made use of the “Questions” entitlement allotted to all Synod members to explore in greater depth the investment management fees paid by the Church Commissioners for their investment portfolio.
If re-elected I will advocate strongly for that, both in Synod and the Church Commissioners.
I am a member of General Synod’s Environment Group and spoke in the 30x30 debate in July 2026, encouraging the Church Commissioners to be bolder.
I worked in Mission & Pastoral, Central Secretariats for both the Church Commissioners and the Archbishops’ Council, the Diocese Commission and Mission & Public Affairs (supporting bishops in the House of Lords on matters relating to marriage, children and families).
Restore the Church Commissioners’ funding to its founding purpose – parish ministry.
I will continue to campaign for Church Commissioners’ funds to be restored to their original purpose of supporting Parish ministry.
Meanwhile, the Church Commissioners are sitting on an endowment fund worth £11.6 billion (and growing).
I have witnessed this in my own church—St Michael at the North Gate, a BCP church in central Oxford— where the congregation has markedly both increased in numbers and decreased in average age, and I am committed to promoting the use of the BCP within the ‘mixed ecology’ of worship. ‘No’ to Project Spire The Church of England seems determined to press ahead with Project Spire—its £100 million ‘reparative justice initiative’ to atone for its claimed profit from the transatlantic slave trade over 300 years ago—amidst ongoing wrangling about whether the Church Commissioners’ funds can legally be used in that way.
The Church Commissioners can offset some of these financial pressures from their investments, but questions of how much support they can sustainably offer and where and how it should be given loom large over this next Synod.
The Church Commissioners and national institutions must genuinely serve the
The most important initiative is to have the Church Commissioners release just ONE PER CENT of the Central Fund (1.6 BILLION POUNDS in may 2026), to fund priests in the most hard pressed parishes.
Many told me of the struggle to pay Parish Share and a sense of unfairness that the Church Commissioners have large investments but are spending money on other things, rather than supporting parishes.
I would like to see General Synod encourage the Church Commissioners to be more imaginative.
At General Synod I will actively stand with Save the Parish to advocate for the necessary changes needed to restore the statutory requirement that income from the Church Commissioners’ endowment must be spent in accordance with the historic mandate to support ministry in parishes.
Another topic will be Project Spire, the Church Commissioners initiative to provide a £100 million investment to address the legacy of chattel slavery.
This should be reflected in how money is distributed by the Church Commissioners (including via the vitally important LInC funding), and there will be opportunities in the coming 5 years for General Synod to influence this.
The Church Commissioners hold an endowment of £11.6bn, and only 8% of their planned annual distribution is currently ring-fenced for parish ministry.
The Church Commissioners hold over £11billion endowment created to fund “the cure of souls” in parish ministry, but it needs to return to that purpose.
Church Politics big issues ahead – lots of problems for new members First, One big win: The Church Commissioners (CC) report into historic links to transatlantic chattel slavery was a masterpiece of research.
Astonishingly: Church Commissioners (Annual Report 2025 page 38) borrowed £275 million.
This rolling into CENS included the Archbishops Council and new access to Church Commissioners funds, and a swathe of reforms to the roles of the Second and Third Church Estates Commissioners.
I spoke to this in the last Synod to argue that prudential care should require the Church Commissioners to follow the lead of the Crown Estates whose commissioners have ambition x10 (rewilding on their agricultural land holdings).
If England is to be re-evangelised, the new synod will need to pursue radical culture change to secure a quantum increase in prayer, equipped laity and financial giving, alongside further release of Church Commissioners’ money and elimination of wasteful duplication, which will require reorganisation at national and diocesan levels.
Engaged directly with the Church Commissioners
The fairness and manner in which funding decisions are taken particularly in relation to how triennium funding is distributed from the funds made available by the Church Commissioners
Contact: [email protected] 07887701336 Proper support for parishes The Church Commissioners, whose historic charitable task is to help with the cure of souls in the parishes that most need it, have an endowment of nearly £12 billion.
In June the two formulas for distribution of the Church Commissioners' money to Dioceses were published, at my request.
I hope that it will become possible to accept and bless faithful and committed same-sex relationships in the church. > I'll continue to support full inclusion of women at every level of the church. > I'll support the Church Commissioners' proposed “Project Spire”.
Likewise, I have taken an active part in liaising with a variety of fringe meetings including the Churches Conservation Trust, and the Church Commissioners.
My main motive in standing for General Synod is to bang the drum for rural ministry and to join with others in wishing to see restored Church Commissioners' funds to their primary purpose, namely stipendiary parish ministry.
At present, according to figures provided by the campaign group 'Save the Parish', only 8% of the Church Commissioners' planned annual distribution is ring-fenced for parish ministry.
You may recall in November 2025 our Diocesan Synod passed a motion that I introduced relating to Lowest Income Communities Funding (LInC - a massive distribution from the Church Commissioners that completely bypasses Chester Diocese).
Restore Church Commissioners’ funds to their founding purpose: stipendiary parish
Save the Parish’s (STP) aims for the next quinquennium include ensuring that Church Commissioners’ funds and parish share are used for their original purpose of supporting parishes and their mission, making sure that clergy are valued, cared for and theologically trained, and valuing the volunteers who hold the local church together.
The restoration of the Church Commissioners' funds to its founding purpose of funding stipendiary parish ministry would devolve money back to the local level and tip the scales to help to start to fix these issues.
I would press on how the Church Commissioners’ funding and historic assets are distributed, and on the buildings, housing and stipends that sustainable parish ministry actually requires.
According to Save the Parish, there are now 6,295 full-time stipendiary parish clergy – a fall of 28% since 2000 – while only around 8% of the Church Commissioners' planned annual distribution is ring-fenced for parish ministry.
The rainy days that the Church Commissioners have saved for are upon us.
Our mission is parish-based and should have the full support of the Church Commissioners.
I will argue that more support is needed from the church commissioners to go on frontline Ministry and help release some of the burden of parish share on individual congregations.
The need for national funding to be balanced again: The Church Commissioners were established in 1948, the same year that the National Health Service (NHS).
A similar need can be seen in the Church of England, in the way in which funding is organised by the Church Commissioners: the balance needs to be restored, as it once was but sadly many years ago.
Why I am standing for General Synod I want to see young people’s voices heard in Church of England structures I am passionate about the future of the Church of England, which has a wonderful opportunity, as a Christian Presence in Every Community, to share the Good News of Jesus with my generation. I care deeply about the future of the planet (it’s the one God has given us to look after), and want to encourage the Church of England to support policies which will protect the environment, and help people effected the most by climate change. I want to foster better relationships with other churches – encouraged by the multi- denominational youth group in which I grew up. I am concerned with diocesan finances, and want to work for a better funding settlement from the Church Commissioners. I play an active role in my local Parish Church, and the importance of the CofE in every community in England cannot be underestimated.
The value of this became clear in the recent pensions debates, when my memory of the 2011 debate was important in persuading members of the Church Commissioners and Pensions Board to back the full restoration of the 2/3 clergy pension.
I agree with Save The Parish that the Church Commissioners should directly support Parish Ministry.
I have recently been appointed by the Church Commissioners to the ‘Bishops and
Pressure must be kept on the Church Commissioners for a fairer distribution of historic assets, understanding the impact that this hardship is having upon churches, communities, housing, vocations, and the wellbeing of its clergy.
In Sheffield Diocese we have benefitted from a significant investment by the Church Commissioners.
• Restore Church Commissioners’ funds to their founding purpose: stipendiary parish
Incidentally, the diocese wanted just two - but we protested and after a public hearing the Church Commissioners agreed and insisted on the increase.
Plainly too those finance issues loom large - but with an investment pot of over £11BILLION administered by the Church commissioners, shouldn’t General Synod be making a difference?
• Restore Church Commissioners funds to their
◦ In 2024 the Church Commissioners held £11.1
I intend to bring a Private Member’s Motion asking the Church Commissioners to explore how the national Church can support parishes in navigating this new financial landscape.
The Church Commissioners now hold funds worth £11.6 billion (and remember that every billion is a thousand million!) – yet only a tiny amount, 8%, is ring-fenced for parish ministry.
In addition to this, as part of the lay awkward squad, I have been involved closely in additional and intensive private discussions and negotiations with churchycrats ( a word, which I invented ), parliamentarians and regulators on: Getting central Church and diocesan funds redirected towards the parish; cranking up the recruitment, retention and redeployment of clergy and thereby addressing the chronic dearth of vicars; stopping in its tracks a dangerous centralisation of Church governance and control of funding; achieving diocesan structural reform ( there are too many dioceses and their overheads are roughly twice what they should be ); helping to influence the Diocese of Salisbury in some of its decision making; attempting to save two churches in Southampton, which were threatened with closure under the Mission and Pastoral Measure; undoing the ruinous policy of trying to achieve net zero by 2030; and dismantling Project Spire, the Church Commissioners’s endeavour to pay slavery reparations of £ 100 million, whereas such funds should be redirected towards parishes.
In order to access the letters, kindly follow this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19Li7XYk77NNZZLO0l2NJATRGJCknSIBE/view?usp=share_link Furthermore, with Professor Nigel Biggar, Lord Biggar of Castle Douglas, Professor Richard Dale, Professor Lawrence Goldman, Dr. Ian Paul, Alka Sehgal-Cuthbert, Lord Tony Sewell and Professor Robert Tombs, I coauthored the paper ‘A critical commentary on Church Commissioners’ historical links to African chattel enslavement’, which was published by History Reclaimed in June 2025.
The paper substantially debunked the Church Commissioners’s historical case, which underpins Project Spire and their proposed payment of £ 100 million in slavery reparations.
Finally, during the last quinquennium, I asked a total of twenty-one written questions at General Synod ( the equivalent of Parliamentary Questions ) on the following subjects: The folly of closing the churches at the beginning of lockdown; the imbalance of power and resources between diocese and parish when a church is threatened with closure under the existing and proposed Mission and Pastoral Measure ( in parallel, I sat on the Reference Group for the revised Mission and Pastoral Measure ); the eye-wateringly high staffing and refurbishment costs of Lambeth Palace; the paucity of spending on training of new ordinands; the amount of time wasted by bishops in the House of Lords; the ruinous cost and lunacy of trying to achieve net zero by 2030 and the burden, which this places on parishes; the fact that so few dioceses use Total Return Accounting ( thereby increasing the financial burden on parishes of parish share ); the non-validity of the Church’s Vision and Strategy ( it was never voted for by General Synod and yet it is depriving principally rural parishes of vicars and stipendiary boots on the ground ); what percentage of the Church Commissioners’ total assets come from parochial endowments, which were seized in 1976 ( for the first time, the written answer to this question established that it is 19% ); concerns about increasing centralisation of Church governance and control of funding; how significant amounts of money are being diverted away from the parish in order to finance episcopal vanity projects; and seven questions about Project Spire and slavery reparations.
The proposal to use 100 million pounds of Church Commissioners funds
Specifically I would like more stipendiary priests to be financially supported from Church Commissioners’ Funds.
It’s imperative the income from Church Commissioners Funds is returned to its agreed and original purpose; “with particular regard to the cure of souls in parishes where such assistance is required”; i.e. stipendiary vicars in parishes.
Despite Dioceses and Church Commissioners holding billions in assets, sometimes being spent on maintaining buildings, support for our overseas brothers and sisters is too often woeful — especially given how far a small amount can go in less well-off countries.
I want to see better, more consistent support for Christians in linked Dioceses by tithing of Church Commissioners income to our poorer linked Dioceses and bringing the Church Commissioners back to their original purpose of supporting stipendiary vicars.
We need to recalibrate how we use limited Church Commissioners’ funds.
The Church Commissioners sit on £11.6bn of your money given originally to help poorer clergy and parishes.
I believe that the Queen Anne bounty, administered by Church Commissioners, should be restored to its founding purpose – the cure of souls in parishes where such assistance is most required.
The Church should do more to properly deploy Church Commissioners’ funds so that poorer or smaller parishes aren’t left behind.
I support the principles of the 2026 Save the Parish manifesto, particularly the responsible use of Church Commissioners' funding, a fair approach to parish share, investment in training and support for clergy, honouring voluntary service, and maintaining the parish system as a vital foundation for mission.
restoring Church Commissioners’ funds to their founding purpose: stipendiary parish ministry: this is the single, most important matter - it addresses the existential threat to parish ministry.
Church Commissioners and national Church leaders to our Diocese for a one-day conference where they can hear directly from you and our parishes to ensure your priorities shape their plans.
I will use my finance skills to press the Church Commissioners to strengthen frontline ministry.
One solution is to redirect some of the Church Commissioners income to a ‘New Settlement’, under which dioceses and their parishes would be awarded a certain proportion, to help them sustain themselves into the future.
There are also serious legal issues around whether the money of Church Commissioners is being used correctly.
After looking at the Church Commissioners’ accounts carefully, I followed-up by expressing my findings in a detailed, formal Concern document to the charities regulator, the Charity
I attempted to introduce an amendment to stop-up the hole that could have led to further mis-spending of Church Commissioners’ money — but unsuccessfully.
A continuing priority for me is the need for the General Synod to strengthen its engagement with the Church Commissioners, in the expectation that a greater proportion of their investment income will be used to support ‘cure of souls’ parochial ministry in dioceses including our own.
Church Finances and Stewardship: The Church Commissioners have a duty to ensure resources reach the parishes where assistance is most required.
I want much more of the Church Commissioners’ available resources directed towards sustaining ordinary parish ministry, relieving pressure on parish share and reducing the financial incentive to create ever-larger benefices.
Endowments and assets now held by the Church Commissioners, other central bodies and church charities should support front-line ministry much more directly.
At the moment only about eight per cent of the Church Commissioners’ planned annual distribution is ring-fenced for parish ministry, even though Queen Anne’s endowment, which the Church Commissioners’ funds are partially based on, was originally given to fund the cure of souls in parishes where such assistance is most required.
Save the Parish is working to restore our historic endowments (held by the Church Commissioners and currently valued at £11.6 billion) to their rightful purpose, which is to support parish ministry at the point of delivery.
I am certainly supportive of our diocese embracing the opportunities presented by its recent substantial financial awards from the Church Commissioners’ Strategic Development Fund, but concerned for the future of some of our most disadvantaged parishes.
Parish clergy should be and feel well-supported, and I strongly back efforts to hold the Church Commissioners to account for the lack of resources parishes and dioceses are experiencing—our financial situation need not be as it is.
Bishop Michael has argued powerfully in Synod for this frontline ministry to be better resourced by the Church Commissioners and to move away from the current system of financial allocation via SMMIB that has been the recent paradigm in our church.
However, the central church is asset-rich with an £11 billion investment fund managed by the Church Commissioners, despite dioceses and parishes facing mounting deficits, soaring building maintenance costs and declining congregational income.
There are significant agenda items for this coming quinquennium, including establishing a new independent safeguarding authority for the Church, the ongoing work on human sexuality, and the National Funding for Diocesan Ministry Review, looking at how we can best distribute the significant funding from the Church Commissioners to Dioceses and Parishes.
Related issues are regularly debated and progress is reviewed by the Church Commissioners at General Synod. https://ecochurch.arocha.org.uk https://www.caringforgodsacre.org.uk
Votes must be in by Tuesday 13th October A better deal for the local church The Finances of the CofE are top heavy, with millions of pounds from the Church Commissioners being spent on questionable projects.
Ongoing Representation on Several General Synod Working Groups During my time in the last session of General Synod, I became acquainted personally with many of the Church Commissioners.
Funding parish ministry The first Save the Parish commitment is to restore Church Commissioners' funds to their founding purpose: stipendiary parish ministry.
It is the Church Commissioners’ plan to invest £100 million of Queen Anne’s endowment in businesses in the Caribbean and Africa, as a response to that fund’s presumed involvement in slave trading.
I would like to see further consideration of changing the restriction on money managed by church commissioners, allowing a greater proportion of these resources to be used to support local parish ministry.
It is my view that a change is needed to the policy of using substantial portions of the Church Commissioners’ income to support flagship projects which benefit only a handful of parishes.
The SMMIB system currently in place for distributing significant amounts of the Church Commissioners’ income is divisive and wasteful,
£11.1 bn held by the Church Commissioners are managed and distributed.
He is keen to support the work of the Church in our local schools, and is committed to worship that engages all parts of our diverse community and the work of the Church Commissioners to support this.
Restore Church Commissioners’ funds
• We need to hold the Church Commissioners to account to make sure that all parishes have proper
I also think that the Church Commissioners’ funds should be used primarily to support parish ministry, particularly in poorer areas.
This must be done by restoring the Church Commissioners’ funds to their original purpose; stipendiary parish ministry.
A topic that has recently become controversial is Project Spire, the proposal to allocate some of the Church Commissioners’ funds for investment in projects benefiting communities descended from victims of chattel slavery.
But the performative application by the Church Commissioners of our funds to foreign projects is not the best way to do this.
I believe that justice requires openness, penitence for past failures and active work towards healing and repair, and that is why I fully support the Church Commissioners’ Fund for Healing,
I will lend my support to those seeking a new settlement around the distribution of our Church’s historic assets, held by the Church Commissioners, to alleviate the growing burden of parish share.
This work must continue - engagement with the Church Commissioners and through the General Synod is the next step.
Having gained experience during the last General Synod I am keen to encourage greater financial support for parish ministry, funded by the Church Commissioners.
These include, but are not limited to, clergy pay and recruitment; finance from central church and government - primarily in relation to building maintenance and improvement; local implications of the wealth and management of land held by Church Commissioners; the Safeguarding record of central church; and the impact of Church Representation Rules, Safeguarding and other legislation.
Ensuring that much more of the income from the Church Commissioners’
07398 102428 [email protected] (<-- Click to email me!) My policy summary: Passionate about inclusivity in all areas Supporter of missional outreach Believer in clergy and their place in communities Calling for robust safeguarding and church safeguarding reform Advocate for climate and ecological care by the the CofE and Church Commissioners