Excepted charities: registration
In answer to a Written Question to DCMS from the Second Church Estates Commissioner, Marsha De Cordova (Battersea, Lab), asking if the Secretary of State has taken a decision in principle about rolling over for another 10-year term the excepted charitable status of Church of England parishes with an annual income less than £100,000 and other church denominations also currently excepted, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Vicky Foxcroft, said this:
“The Charity Commission estimates that around 30,000 church charities across all temporarily excepted Christian denominations will need to register by 31 March 2031. There are no current plans to further extend the deadline for registration.” [Emphasis added.]
Places of Worship Renewal Fund: Expressions of Interest
In answer to a Written Question asking how many expressions of interest for the Places of Worship Renewal Fund for projects which fell within or serve areas in Index of Multiple Deprivation deciles 1-3 have been rejected in the first round, Bs Twycross, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at DCMS, replied as follows:
“During the Expressions of Interest (EOI) stage of Round 1 for the Places of Worship Renewal Fund, 85 EOIs that fell within or served areas in Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) deciles 1–3 were rejected on the grounds of ineligibility. In addition, 21 eligible projects within or serving IMD deciles 1–3 were deferred to Round 2 due to oversubscription. These deferred projects will be automatically considered in the next funding round without the need for applicants to resubmit an application.”
“Church of England website transformed”…
… says the Press Release informing readers that the national Church of England website has been completely redesigned to serve the public and parishes:
“This major overhaul of the site’s design, functionality and accessibility has two simple aims: To help people explore the Christian faith and find out more about the work of the Church of England; And to support local churches with redesigned access to resources, from liturgy to legal guidance in clear, accessible formats.
Plain-English explainers guide people through everything from what Christians believe and how Anglicans worship God to the major seasons and events of the church’s year”.
Some but by no means all of our URL links to the CofE site have changed as a consequence, and we are working through the more important ones: the recently posted Issues Tracker required little revision, but most of the links on ChurchCare Guidance Notes – Quick Links are no longer operative. However, the information formerly on ChurchCare may now be found at Buildings and Churchyards, which provides 5 pages on “Guidance for maintaining and developing your church building, church fabric and churchyard”.
Based on our experience with similar revisions in 2017 and 2020, and the rebuilding of the ELA website in 2018, in the majority of cases we now retain copies of the important external posts on the L&RUK website.
Parochial Fees 2027
Last week the Church of England posted information on the Parochial Fees for 2027, using the base figures in Schedule 1 of the Parochial Fees Order 2026, updated by the annual CPI increase as at August 2026; we noted in the round up for 11 October that increase would be 3.3%. The Tables of Statutory Parochial Fees as of 27 October 2026 are published in three formats: Parochial Fees 2027 (A3 Full); Parochial Fees 2027 (A4 Full); and Parochial Fees 2027 (A4 Summary).
In addition, the new CoE web pages provide information on other related issues, including: an overview for parishes and for clergy and PCCs; a summary of the law on waiving parochial fees and a video for administrators; the law on charging for weddings for PCCs; FAQs on Life Event Fees for members of the public, clergy and diocesan officers; wedding administration; various Guidance from the NCIs Legal Office.
The reporting of Parochial Fees on L&RUK has a wide readership, reaching 16,579 page-views of the 2022 post. The format to the most recent post (2027) has been modified to ease navigation between sections, and also includes a clarification of the components of these costs.
Quick links
- Aleem Maqbool & Catherine Wyatt, BBC News: This man refused life-saving treatment because of his religion – days later the rules changed: on the recent decision of the Jehovah’s Witnesses to permit blood transfusions.