The 2025 Church of England Parochial Fees for marriages, funerals, burials, churchyard monuments, and other miscellaneous matters are available on its webpage Life events parochial fees and guidance; these are in three different formats: an A3 table, an A4 table, and an A4 Summary.

Below are listed the total fees payable to the Church for:

• Baptisms
• Marriages
• Searches in church registers 
• Funerals and burials of persons over 18
• Monuments in churchyards
• Extras

References to “Notes” in these summaries use the same numbering format as in the A3 table, and are reproduced in the NOTES section below. An explanation of the development of the Parochial Fees for 2025 (and prospectively for 2026) is given in our post Parochial Fees – 2025 and 2025.

For parish churches, these fees are allocated between the Diocesan Board of Finance (DBF) and the Parochial Church Council (PCC) as shown the A3 and A4 tables; where the service is taken by retired clergy, guidance on the apportionment of the DBF fees is given by dioceses. For example, see the advice from the Diocese of Blackburn.

BAPTISMS

• Certificate issued at time of baptism (See Note 1), £19.
• Short certificate of baptism given under s2 Baptismal Registers Measure 1961, £19.

There is no fee for a service of baptism.

MARRIAGES

The following costs are set by the Church of England nationally (i.e. in England) 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, lighting and all administration.

• Publication of banns: £37
• Certificate of banns, if required: £19
• Marriage service (See Note 5): £544

Not covered are extras such as the costs of choir, organist, bellringers, verger &c., for which new advice was issued in February 2019. The background to these extras is summarized here, and the Church of England’s The Cost of Church Weddings provides examples of costs for where a couple marries away from where they live. However, at the time of writing, this document used the Parochial Fees for 2024.

Special Marriage Licence

Special Marriage Licences are a dispensation given by the Archbishop under powers he and his predecessors have exercised since 1533. If a couple has a genuine connection with a particular church or chapel but is unable to satisfy the legal requirement to marry there, they may apply to the Faculty Office for the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Special Marriage Licence.

With effect from 1 April 2024, the application fee for Special Marriage Licences was raised from £400.00 to £440.00.

SEARCHES IN CHURCH REGISTERS

• Searching registers of marriages for period before 1 July 1837 (See Note 4) (for up to one hour), £37.
  • for each subsequent hour or part of an hour, £37.
• Searching registers of baptism or burials (See Note 4)(including the provision of one copy of any entry therein) for up to one hour, £37.
  • for each subsequent hour or part of an hour, £37.
• Each additional copy of an entry in a register of baptism or burials, £19.
• Inspection of instrument of apportionment or agreement for exchange of land for tithes deposited under the Tithe Act 1836, £0
• Furnishing copies of above (for every 72 words), £19.

FUNERALS

Funerals and burials of Person aged 18 years or more (see Note 3(i))

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 and the definitions relating to burial are in Note 2. The fees are:

A: Service in Church

• Funeral service in church, whether taking place before or after burial or cremation (See Note 5), £234.
• Burial of body in churchyard immediately preceding or following on from service in church, £375.
• Burial or other lawful disposal of cremated remains in churchyard immediately preceding or following on from service in church, £164.
• Burial of body, or burial or other lawful disposal of cremated remains, in cemetery immediately preceding or following on from service in church, £35.
• Cremation immediately preceding or following on from service in church, £35.
• Burial of body in churchyard on separate occasion, (See Note 3(ii)), £409.
• Burial of cremated remains in churchyard or other lawful disposal of cremated remains on separate occasion (See Note 3(ii)), £198.
• Burial of body, or burial or other lawful disposal of cremated remains, in cemetery on separate occasion (See Note 3(ii)), £86.

B: No service in Church

• Funeral service (including burial of body) at graveside in churchyard, £484.
• Funeral service (including burial or other lawful disposal of cremated remains) at graveside in churchyard, £273.
• Funeral service at crematorium, or funeral service (including burial of body or burial or other lawful disposal of cremated remains) in cemetery, £234.
• Funeral service in premises belonging to funeral director, whether taking place before or after burial or cremation, £234.
• Cremation immediately preceding or following on from funeral service in premises belong to funeral director, £35.
• Burial of body in churchyard, not following service at graveside (committal only), £409.
• Burial of cremated remains in churchyard or other lawful disposal of cremated remains (committal only), £198.
• Burial of body, or burial or other lawful disposal of cremated remains, in cemetery (committal only), £35.

C: Certificate issued at time of burial (See Note 3(iii)), £19.

MONUMENTS IN CHURCHYARDS

Permitted in accordance with rules, regulations or directions made by the Chancellor of the diocese, including those relating to a particular churchyard or part of a churchyard (but excluding a monument authorized by a particular faculty, the fee for which is set by the Chancellor)

• Small cross of wood, £57.
• Small vase not exceeding 305mm x 203mm x 203mm (12” x 8” x 8”) or tablet, plaque or other marker commemorating a person whose remains have been cremated, £92.
• Any other monument, £172.

(the above fees include the approval of the original inscription by the incumbent).

• Additional inscription on existing monument, £37.

EXTRAS

The fees shown in the 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.

NOTES FROM TABLES OF FEES

Statutory fees are only prescribed for matters in respect of which parishioners have a legal right. Not all services come into this category, for example, funerals where there is a period of more than 48 hours between the funeral service and the cremation and between the cremation and the disposal of ashes.

This also applies to special services such as memorial services and services of blessing and dedication following a civil marriage. The Archbishops’ Council recommends that, where a memorial service is on a similar scale to a funeral service, or a service of blessing and dedication following a civil marriage or a renewal of marriage vows is on a scale equivalent to a wedding service, the PCC fee should be based on the statutory fee for the service, with the PCC receiving the equivalent of the combined DBF and PCC fee.

Note 1: Certificates of baptism

The fee for a certificate issued at the time of baptism is for a certified copy of the entry in the register book of baptisms, giving the particulars required in Form No 1 in Schedule 1 to the Parochial Registers and Records Measure 1978. The fees payable for a certified copy of the full entry issued at any other time are the fees prescribed for searching registers of baptisms and burials and, if applicable, for each additional copy of an entry in such a register.

Note 2: Definitions etc.

• ‘Burial’ includes deposit in a vault or brick grave and the interment or deposit of cremated remains.
• ‘Churchyard’ includes the curtilage of a church and a burial ground of a church whether or not immediately adjoining such church. (NOTE: This includes any area used for the interment of cremated remains within such a curtilage or burial ground, whether consecrated or not.)
• ‘Cemetery’ means any burial ground other than a churchyard.
• ‘Monument’ includes headstone, cross, kerb, border, vase, chain, railing, tablet, plaque, marker, flatstone, tombstone or monument or tomb of any other kind.
• ‘immediately preceding or following on from service in church’ includes the day before and the day after the service in church. See note at the top right of the table.
• Where “ – “ appears in the table, no fee is payable to the body indicated.

Note 3(i) No fee is payable in respect of a burial of a stillborn infant, or for the funeral or burial of a person dying within eighteen years after birth.

Note 3(ii) The fee for a burial in a churchyard or cemetery on a separate occasion applies when burial does not take place on the same day as, or on the day before or the day after, a service in church.

Note 3(iii) The certificate issued at the time of burial is a certified copy of the entry in the register book of burials kept under the Parochial Registers and Records Measure 1978.

Note 4: Searches in church registers

The search fee relates to a particular search where the approximate date of the baptism, marriage or burial is known. The fee for a more general search of a church register is negotiable.

Note 5: Costs and expenses

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.

Further information

• A guide to Church of England Parochial Fees, including Life events ministry fees FAQs, Church of England.
• Church Support Hub, Church of England.
• Marriages, baptisms and burials: guidance for the clergy, HM Passport Office, (Last updated 29 September 2024).
• L&RUK Index Parochial Fees.

Updated: 7 December 2024 at 15:14.