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Law & Religion UK was conceived as a forum for the academically-rigorous exploration of the interactions between law and religion – broadly defined – together with the human rights issues associated with them. It is co-edited by Frank Cranmer and David Pocklington, both of whom are Honorary Research Fellows at the Centre for Law & Religion, Cardiff Law School, and have been posting on L&RUK since 2012.
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Thank you for this further question, John. However, as I indicated on 28 February 2022, our Terms and Conditions indicate that we do not give advice on individual cases; furthermore neither Frank nor I are in practice. Regards, David Pocklington
Sorry to have bothered you, David, but many thanks anyway. John
No problem, John.
Under the Burial Act 1857, it is an offence for a body or any human remains which have been interred in a place of burial to be removed unless one of the conditions listed in subsection (2) is complied, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/20-21/81/section/25
Sorry: as a matter of policy we don’t give legal advice. We are not competent to do so, neither do we carry the necessary indemnity insurance.
If it’s a Church of England burial ground, I suggest you seek advice from the Diocesan Registrar, not least because you will almost certainly need a faculty to carry out the proposed works. If the burial ground belongs to one of the Free Churches, you should consult the denomination’s property officer.
Ok thank you Frank
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I have tried your search facility but cannot find any relevant articles [perhaps because you have not covered the issue]. Have you written anything on the removal of ashes from churchyards, notably in the case of redundant churches?
Turning ashes into jewels is an interesting matter but not relevant. Thank you for all the work you put into your newsletters.
TIA
Under s.25 Burial Act 1857 (Offence of removal of body from burial ground), in England and Wales “It is an offence for a body or any human remains which have been interred in a place of burial to be removed” without either a faculty or a licence from the Ministry of Justice. There are numerous judgments on the treatment of ashes by the consistory courts of the Church of England, many of which are listed in our Index.
Dear Frank and David
Thank you for your interesting L&R posts.
I have a question for you that you may have covered in an earlier post but I have missed it – what are the laws/practices about PCCs (Church of England) paying honoraria?
Many PCCs, and particularly the smaller ones, do not employ an organist or verger but like to give them “a little something” in recognition of their service – often regularly (monthly or annually). I understand that honoraria are taxable in the hands of the recipient so if they are a tax-payer they need to declare it on their tax-return. I have 2 questions for you but expect you have many more points that I haven’t thought of:
1. By paying an honorarium, might the PCC be deemed an employer by HMRC? and
2. If the recipient is also a member of the PCC (ie a trustee) should the decision to make these payments be minuted at a PCC meeting (with the relevant PCC member abstaining from the discussion and vote) and also reported in the annual financial statements.
It has been suggested to me that PCCs would be better off recognising the work of their organists &/or vergers by giving them vouchers (such as Amazon) instead.
I’d appreciate your thoughts/a post on the subject.
Thank you and best wishes
Cosy
Dear Cosy, thank you for your interesting question, on which my knowledge is only peripheral.
At SS Peter and Paul, Wantage, we are fortunate in having a well-resourced Music Guild which has been in operation for a number of years. Its initial purpose was to provide funding for an organist in addition to the Director of Music who is funded by the church. The Music Guild funds were later augmented by the legacy of a former chorister, in addition to regular fund-raising events, and now it funds choral and organ scholarships and others, but in view of the various exceptions which may, or may not be applicable, advice from someone more knowledgeable than myself is necessary.
Best regards
DavidP
I’ve thought hard about how to reply. Surely this isn’t an employment issue; the point is that income is taxable whether it’s a “salary”, an “honorarium” or (in the case of C of E clergy with freehold), a “stipend”. The employment status of the recipient doesn’t matter. Similarly, if you pay someone in Amazon vouchers or whatever, it’s a taxable benefit in kind.
As to the position where a payment is to a trustee, there’s Charity Commission guidance, here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/payments-to-charity-trustees-what-the-rules-are.
Hope this helps.
Frank
If the Organist is legally an “employee“, then there will be certain obligations laid upon the PCC in relation, potentially, to PAYE, National Insurance, holiday pay, and possibly pension arrangements – to mention a few. Some of these may be inapplicable given the likely rate of remuneration. There is a helpful guidance note from the Church of England which can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2017-12/general-synod-legal-advisory-commission-parish-music-organists-and-choirmasters-and-church-musicians.pdf
Good Morning Frank and David
Given the January Charity Commission (CC) letters to CofE General Synod members and to Bishops may I suggest it might be time for a post on the issue of the interface between secular charitable law and ecclesiastical CofE law as concerns Diocesan Board of Finance and PCC?
I suggest this as there appears to be some confusion, within Diocese and perhaps even within CC about this interface. As far as I can see the interface issues are as follows. A post inviting comments on these issues might be a useful online conversation for many of us struggling with these issues.
1) Each CofE Diocese appears to have a Diocesan Board of Finance (DBF) which is a charitable company operating under secular charitable law. Under Ecclesiastical law – specifically the Diocesan Boards of Finance Measure 1925 – the provisions of the charitable company’s Memorandum and Articles (M&A) -ought to contains provisions to the effect that: a) the DBF acts as a committee of the Diocesan Synod (DS), b) DS confers various powers to the DBF. The 1925 Measure also says “A Diocesan Board of Finance for any diocese constituted under this Measure shall in the exercise of its powers and duties comply with such directions as may from time to time be given to the Board by the Diocesan Synod”. Given the Persons of Significant Control (PSC) Register requirements, it would seem that as a minimum each DBF should identify the Diocesan Bishop as a PSC?
2) Looking at my DBF M&A it appears to say all Diocesan synod members are members of the Board. In reality the Bishops Council (BC), which at the end of the day is merely advisory to the Bishop, seems to operate as the DBF, often not clearly identifying in minutes which items of record are DBF business and which are BC business.
3) Looking at the DBF M&A I can see online, most seem to require an AGM, but I can only find evidence of two diocese recording explicitly an AGM. If the M&A require an AGM shouldn’t Diocese be holding and recording one?
4) PCCs with income under £100k are “excepted” charities so aren’t registered with CC. Is there an ecclesiastical law, (like the 1925 Measure I mention above), which applies to a PCC charity and therefore effectively introduces a PSC? Am I right in assuming the PCC as charity trustees still have all the usual charity trustee obligations? And in the absence of a M&A is there any requirement for an excepted charity to create an M&A, or do the Church Representation Rules on PCC effectively cover that issue?
At the moment I’ve got more questions than answers – but maybe a post and the discussion on it will shed some more light on these issues?
Best Regards
Jon Smith
I was looking for examples of financial negligence in churches to include in some training materials to highlight the need for due diligence, adequate information, before embarking on major projects.
I couldn’t see any case reports on here, but thought I would check if anyone knew of any relevant cases.
Thanks for your query which is something on which one of our readers might know. In general, we do not post on financial negligence as this is an issue for the civil courts. Regards
DavidP
David, would I be able to get in contact with you, regarding possibly submitting a guest post. I have included my email on the attached form.
Best wishes,
Christopher