The Church of England has announced its national spending plans for 2026-2028, in particular how it will use the funds made available by the Church Commissioners. The text of this morning’s press release is copied below; there is also a helpful video.
Major investment in local churches and parish clergy as £1.6bn three-year national spending plans unveiled
09/06/2025
The Church of England today unveils plans to invest more than £1.6 billion towards sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and serving local communities over the next three years – a 36 per cent rise on the national funding made available in 2022 for the current three-year period.
The distributions from the Church Commissioners, which manages the Church’s national endowment fund, will support a major package of measures for clergy well-being and a focus on supporting parishes in the lowest income communities in the country, as well as other key priorities including safeguarding and redress.
The majority of the work of the Church of England across the country is paid-for through the generosity and sacrificial giving of those in local congregations – a critical partnership with so many faithful people, which is the bedrock of the Church’s finances and for which we are so thankful.
On top of that, the Commissioners’ funding for the work of the Church, distributed through the Archbishops’ Council, is set to increase by £430 million between 2026 and 2028 above the previous three-year period, or triennium – which was itself up 30 per cent on the period before
Overall, the Church Commissioners and Archbishops’ Council have set indicative distributions of £4.6 billion in support of the work of the Church over nine years to support the Church’s Vision and Strategy to enable the flourishing of our parishes and worshipping communities across the whole country and help the church to become younger and more diverse, and safer.
Clergy well-being
The Archbishops’ Council has today set a 10.7 per cent rise in clergy stipends – both the National Minimum Stipend and National Stipends Benchmark – to come into effect in April next year.
Dioceses will be invited to adopt to adopt the National Stipends Benchmark as a national standard stipend for incumbent status clergy.
This follows proposals announced three weeks ago to improve pension benefits by restoring the two-thirds target level abolished in 2011, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, and increase pensions which have come into payment since then. Those proposals will be considered by the General Synod next month.
The funding proposals announced today also include additional financial support of over £95 million for clergy retirement housing as well as investment in new initiatives to improve choices for clergy when they retire (Read more).
And at the other end of the career span – the plans include enhanced support towards living costs for those training for ordination.
The clergy well-being proposals are made possible by a wider programme of financial simplification which will include abolishing the system of diocesan ‘apportionment’ to the national Church.
Through this change, dioceses will receive financial relief from current costs, and many will also receive additional funding to support the Church’s work in their lowest income communities, in order to help fund the increase.
Investing in local churches
Following four years of growth in church attendance, there will be continued investment in helping revitalise local churches and outreach.
Overall Strategic Mission & Ministry Investment is set to rise by almost nine per cent to £416.4 million in the coming triennium.
Within that, the funding set aside for churches in the lowest income communities is set to jump from £91 million in the last three years to £133.5 million.
There will also be £236 million to invest in the local church through supporting dioceses in their longer-term strategies in the coming triennium.
Separately, in recognition of the major financial pressures they have faced since the pandemic, £200 million additional time-limited support is being set aside for dioceses over the next nine years, of which £100 million will be in the next three years.
It is hoped that this will provide much needed breathing space as dioceses work together in partnership with their parishes and worshipping communities to grow and sustain flourishing ministry across the country.
Meanwhile there will be to £48.1 million support for cathedrals, including further investment in the Cathedral Sustainability Fund in recognition of the financial challenges cathedrals face.
Safeguarding and Redress
Central to the spending plans is a major focus on safeguarding. £30 million has been allocated towards the cost of national safeguarding work, including the work on Safeguarding Structures, focussed on moving towards greater independence in safeguarding arrangements.
The spending plans also reaffirm the previously announced allocation of £150 million towards the costs of the new National Redress scheme.
Protecting God’s creation
The spending plans confirm earlier proposals to invest £190 million over several triennia to support General Synod’s ambition to reach Net Zero Carbon. The latest proposals would extend the period when funding is available up to 2034 to prevent a ‘cliff-edge’ after the 2030 target date set by Synod, enabling work to limit carbon emissions to continue to receive support during that period.
The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, said: “The Church of England exists to live out the good news of Jesus Christ in every community in England.
“We are the church of and for the people of England and our work is funded through a living partnership between the Church Commissioners and the thousands of individuals and communities who give so generously and sacrificially.
“So I would like to thank all of those who support the mission and ministry of the Church in this way. And we are also fortunate that the wise stewardship of the Church Commissioners means we are able to distribute £430 million more over the next three years than was made available three years ago.
“What we do with that money matters. Parishes and clergy are at the heart of everything we do in the Church. We want to recognise that. It is also vital that we prioritise support for churches serving communities in the greatest need. In this way we can continue to fulfil our vocation of being the church for everyone.”
The Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, who chaired the Triennium Funding Working Group – the body which developed the latest spending plans – said: “We have listened carefully to people from across the Church to understand their needs and priorities for the coming years and the work that God is calling us to do and we thank all who have engaged in these discussions.
“One thing which has come through very clearly is the importance of the well-being of our clergy, who are at the forefront of that work.
“So I hope these carefully costed plans will provide a step-change in support to clergy right the way through from those following a call to ordination to those who have retired.
“It is vital also that we learn the lessons of our recent past and do everything we can to be a safer church for everyone.
“While no amount of money can ever erase the harm done by perpetrators of abuse, these spending plans will support the vital work of safeguarding in the Church and underpin the new National Redress scheme.”
Alan Smith, the First Church Estates Commissioner, said: “With this triennium funding package, the Church Commissioners is fulfilling its core purpose – to help fund the mission of the Church of England in England and to ensure its flourishing, taking account of intergenerational equity.
“This distribution of £1.6 billion represents the highest distribution in the Church’s history – and we celebrate all those who have made it possible across the entire community of the Church, in particular the investments team, clergy and parishes.
“In stewarding these resources, we must be humble and vigilant, as the times ahead promise both great opportunities and challenges.”
Notes
Stipends
Overview of funding made available
Figures for future triennia are indicative based on current actuarial valuations.
*Buffer for market volatility and stress
Read a more detailed breakdown of the Triennium Spending Plans 2026-28.
“a living partnership between the Church Commissioners and the thousands of individuals and communities who give so generously and sacrificially”
I confess I have only skimmed through this article, but that phrase stood out. I cannot think of a more unequal partnership. It’s a massive dam deciding to release a trickle more water whilst patting the streams further down on the head, for continuing to try and wring another drop from their parched communities.
Ha! That’s a brilliant description.
So the 1995-98 settlement will remain in place, and the regressive implicit subsidy of the Commissioners by the parishes will continue. The Commissioners will accrue c. £1bn p/a, of which about half will be disbursed. The question is how the increased support for the local church will be distributed. Hitherto it has often been in the form of grants for which bids have to be made. Better resourced parishes will have the wherewithal, energy and experience to submit credible bids. Bidding is therefore, of itself, an expensive, regressive as well as risky process. The metrics for winning bids are frequently… Read more »
If I’m understanding this correctly The Commissioners are making a significant contribution to retirement housing in a way they haven’t in the past. Hurrah! Someone somewhere has reminded The Commissioners about their core purposes. At last!
No sign of £100m of reparations for slavery, which is a plus. I worry that there are still strings on much of the money to Dioceses. We are currently seeking to church plant into a new housing estate. There is no money from our Diocese to fund this, because they in turn don’t have a current multi-million pound development project with the Church Commissioners. If parishes can’t access funding for mission without it being rolled into some complex and resource-heavy bidding system from their Diocese, many fruits will wither on the vine. Just repatriate resources to parishes and trust us.
There might be no sign of the money for the anti slavery projects themselves but do we know how much is being spent on the people working hard to try to make some sense of it? All the (uncosted) management input is to be paid by the Church not taken out of the £100m.
It’s all very well for the Archbishops’ Council to “suggest” a stipend rise of 10.7%. But how is this to be funded? Most (all?) dioceses don’t have access to funding for this so it will fall on parish share — and parish share collection is already difficult at the current levels without a 10% or 11% increase to fund the corresponding rise in stipends. (Please note that this is a comment only on affordability, not whether or not clergy should get such an increase.)
It’s a very germane comment.
My well-being might be helped by an increase in Stipend.
It might deteriorate if the challenge to my parish of raising and remitting the expected Parish Share becomes even more acute.
It’s not terribly well stated but I reckon the uplift will cost around £50m, and there seems to be an additional 100m going to dioceses without strings. So I think it is funded (at least for now).
To which dioceses will that money go, and who will decide that? Within the dioceses who receive that money, which parishes will receive help from it, and who decides this?
If a parish is currently a net giver to their diocese, will it be helped to provide the increased Stipend Contribution needed to fund their Vicar’s pay rise. Or will the £100M (which is time limited if I understand) essentially go to poorer dioceses and parishes. Who will fund the enhanced stipends in 10 years’ time when the time limited support reaches its time limit?
See the Bishop of Hereford’s reflections in the Church Times on the time-limited dangers of this proposal.
This is a valid question. The challenge of raising enough funds to cover a full stipend is an issue even now. Many roles are already 0.5 (or some other %) of a full stipend, even if it’s really a full-time role. So it may just drive up further the number of these posts, especially in those dioceses struggling already.
In our diocese the uplift in clergy stipend will cost about £650k, and the removal of contributions to Archbishops Council will save £850k, so it looks like a net gain.
Amidst all this discussion of financial support for ministry, I’m reflecting that the Church has never yet really grasped the potential strategic value of unpaid ministry, what my former colleague The Revd Bill Beaver used to call ‘the free priest’. Forty years ago some of us envisaged a future pattern in which free priests (or NSMs or MSEs – the multiplicity of titles indicates the lack of clear thought about this kind of ministry) would be a substantial part of the Church’s workforce, with the (relatively few) paid clergy supporting and enabling this front-line ministry. But trying to uphold the… Read more »
Is the labourer not worthy of his or her hire?
“Investing in local churches Following four years of growth in church attendance, . . . “ Isn’t there a name for the practice (beloved by our politicians) of using a statement which may well be true but is so pared down as to be misleading? Ken Eames recently commented on another thread (Opinion – 21 May 2025) I am as confident as I can be, given the resources at my disposal, that the figures published give a fair reflection of Church of England attendance and participation; i.e., that attendance is up a little from 2023 to 2024, while being some… Read more »
‘Spin’?
Spin, because “flourishing” has become an essential article of faith for The CofE. The word needs dropping. Along with “resilience”. And “legacy” and “social capital”. I could go on!
Some words have become useful, including ‘thoughtcrime’
Also worth recognising that this may be a pre-emptive strike against the motion coming to General Synod next month, presented by the Bishop of Bath and Wells, calling for £2.6bn of Commissioners assets to be transferred to parish ministry https://www.churchofengland.org/about/governance/general-synod/special-agendas/diocesan-synod-motions#na.
The vast majority of the spending outlined here is not for parish ministry, it is for bishops costs, retirement housing, pensions, safeguarding redress, net zero etc.
Indeed, but I suspect that it is also a way of heading off arguments made by Ian Paul and others for improved pay and rations. I cannot help but note that this additional outlay is subject to the approval of the Commissioners’ board of governors. That reference is surely deliberate. The implication of this is that those pushing for larger disbursements had better not ask for more, because the Commissioners are not formally accountable to Synod and must instead adhere to the charitable objects of the Commissioners. Therefore, if Synod presses for more, the governors can always pull up the… Read more »
It’s a brave man ( or in this case woman) who can know “what God is calling on the Church to do”. It would be more honest for those making decisions about spending priorities to own them.
The increase in the national minimum stipend is great news for those with deferred pension benefits in the clergy scheme – myself included. Presumably dioceses will not only have to fund the increased pension costs for serving clergy but also for those of us yet to draw down our benefits. The last time I checked the actuarial reduction for taking benefits early (other than for ill health reasons) was quite punitive.