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Page 3 of 10
3. The challenging financial situation• Historically, most parishes in Sussex have not had to ‘pay their way’, through a mixture of a support from the Church Commissioners, which paid most clergy stipends; and assets and resources help by either individual parishes, the diocese, or the national church. Previously parishes only really had to find money to support buildings
• The rapid expansion of the number of churches in the Victorian era, the rise in the cost of stipends and pensions, and the erosion of some assets, have meant dioceses and parishes have had to move towards supporting the local ministry - as non-conformist and Roman Catholic congregations have always had to do
• Helping parishes understand their own finances, a figure demonstrating each parishes ‘costs’, made up of the stipend, the parsonage housing, something towards the training of new clergy & Readers, and support of the departments at Church House, Hove, supporting Schools, Adult Ed, Mission & Renewal etc., and a small figure for Central (national) Church costs, was distributed. This was calculated as the parish’s ‘Full Responsibility’ cost, and parishes were encouraged to give ‘Towards Full Responsibility’ costs, or ‘TFR’ as it became known. What the parish gave to the diocese, was calculated as a percentage of what the parish actually cost, the %TFR. FMC (Full Ministry Costs) and PMC (Parish Ministry Costs, currently the apparent favoured term) are other initials/mnemonics used, primarily meaning the same thing in percentage terms. The concept of TFR became widespread in the 1990s
• Parishes have then been encouraged to move towards paying a higher proportion - indeed the full cost of the ministry locally, i.e. reach 100% TFR. This was exemplified by Bishop Lindsay’s suggestion at the East Grinstead Deanery Finance Meeting in October 2003 that all parishes should achieve 100% TFR by the end of the decade. Those that continued to need a ‘subsidy’ would now be expected to demonstrate a strategy for mission to justify the subsidy
• It was acknowledged by the Chair of the Diocesan Board of Finance at the 2002 finance meeting in the Deanery that deaneries may choose to apportion the PMC costs as they wish to the parishes within the deanery, so parishes may support each other financially within a deanery, some giving more than 100%PMC, to support others who can’t
• There is a debate as to whether some Deaneries will ever be able to achieve 100%PMC, because of local financial and demographic circumstances. The EG Deanery currently come in with the fourth lowest %PMC, after Brighton, Hove, and Hastings Deaneries
• The Deanery Synod passed a motion that the EGD would attempt to reach 80%PMC within 5 years, i.e. by 2007. Due to the demographics of the EGD, it is doubted whether it will ever be able to achieve more that 90%PMC in real terms
• Another area of income from parishes, fees from Chaplaincy work in hospitals/industry etc, or funerals and weddings, generates some £80,000 income in the EGD. The Diocesan Finance department does not currently include fees income directly in the calculations, but averages fee income across the diocese. The EGD is currently only credited with £30,000 per annum
• The diocese currently does not fully support taking into account the figures including fees. Figures that do take this into account have been produced by the EGD Treasurer. Parishes in the EGD are currently paying between 64%TFR or PMC and 108%PMC (including fees). The Deanery as a whole is paying 70.5%PMC without fees; or 80.1%PMC if full fees are included. (Full fees figure calculated by £582,692 Parish Contribution + £80,000 fee income divided by £826,910 PMC as in Section 6 Finance)
• The EGD has put forward a motion to the Diocesan Synod, due to be debated in November: This deanery requests the diocese to review the present arrangement with regard to allocation of parish ministry costs, with a view to determining whether a more equitable arrangement could be found in order to equip churches to further the aims of Life Together.
It will be a very significant challenge for most parishes to face the increases to 100%PMC on an ongoing basis.
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