The Church of England’s Tables of Parochial Fees from 1 January 2020* (“the Table”), prepared by the Archbishops’ Council, is now available on the C of E website as an A3 table, an A4 table, and as a short A4 summary. The basic fees are listed below, but readers are advised to visit the Church’s website to read the accompanying notes. An explanation of the calculation of these fees and the timing of their publication is below.

* The Church of England’s Tables of Parochial Fees from 1 January 2022 are summarized here.

Marriages

The following costs are set by the Church of England nationally and are the same for every church. The basic legal fees include the cost of the vicar, the church, calling the banns, a banns certificate, the marriage certificate, lighting and all administration.

• Publication of banns: £31
• Certificate of banns, if required: £14
• Marriage service: £463
• Marriage certificate at registration, if required: £11

For a couple marrying in their own parish (providing both live there) the cost is £505; if a couple marry away from where they live, the cost is £550. Not covered are extras such as the costs of choir, organist, bellringers, verger &c., for which new advice was issued in February 2019. These extras are summarized below.

Funerals

A Church of England funeral is not necessarily in a church. The minister can lead the whole funeral service in a different place, or, a church service can be incorporated into part of the day, wherever the funeral takes place. Further information is here. The costs are:

• Service (in church, cemetery, or crematorium): £199
• Burial in churchyard, preceding or following on from service in church: £318
• Burial in churchyard, on separate occasion or without service in church: £347
• Burial in cemetery or cremation immediately preceding or following on from service in church: £28
• Burial certificate, if required: £14

Monuments

These normally range from £45.00 to £142.00 depending on the type and size of the monument required. Note 2 in the Table defines ‘monument’ as including headstone, cross, kerb, border, vase, chain, railing, tablet, plaque, marker, flatstone, tombstone or monument or tomb of any other kind.

Baptisms

There is no fee for a service of baptism

• Certificate of baptism, if required: £14

Searches in church registers

• For the first hour (inclusive of one copy of an entry in certain registers): £31.00
• For each subsequent hour or part of an hour £31.00
• Additional copies of entries: £14.00

Access to such records is subject to the Parochial Registers and Records Measure 1978, S20: Searches of certain register books.

Calculation of parochial fees

At its February session on 21 February 2019, General Synod approved the Parochial Fees and Scheduled Matters Amending Order 2019, which will make provision for parochial fees for the years 2020 to 2024, inclusive. This is reported in our post, Church of England Parochial Fees – Changes for 2020 to 2024. The Parochial Fees for 2020 have been based upon the Consumer Prices Index for  August 2019, reported by the Office for National Statistics on 18 September 2019. 

Extras

The fees shown in the Church’s Table do not include charges for heating, the services of a verger, music (e.g. organist, choir), bells, and flowers, which are fixed by the Parochial Church Council. In the case of a marriage service or a funeral service in church, any costs and expenses incurred in respect of routine administration (including arranging dates and times and the making of entries in registers), making the church available and lighting it are included in the fee prescribed as payable to the Parochial Church Council. Our post, New advice on “extras” for weddings and funerals, summarizes the current advice on the additional costs not included in the statutory fees.

Update, 25 November 2019 – Parochial Fees for 2021

The Parochial Fees for 2021 were published on 25 November 2020 and are summarised in our post Church of England Parochial Fees 2021.