Last year we posted on 15 questions church charity trustees should ask? and Churches as charities: some basics. In the following cross-post from the Ecclesiastical Law Society website, Catherine Shelley looks specifically at the position of Church of England PCCs – but much of her advice is equally applicable to church charities of other denominations.

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PCCs are charities established by the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956, which sets out the purpose of the PCC as “promoting in the parish the whole mission of the Church”. The rest of the PCC’s ‘constitution’ is the Church Representation Rules (set out in Schedule 3 to the Synodical Government Measure 1969). As the annual income of most PCCs will be over £100,000 they should be registered on the Charity Commission website – but even if your charity is exempt or excepted from registration it is still obliged to follow charity law.

The Charity Commission’s six core principles for charity trustees are as follows: Continue reading →