The Parish of
Wonersh with Blackheath
The Parish Share
The Parish Share is the payment that we pay to
Guildford Diocese to meet the running costs of the Diocesan and national church
administration, including the employment costs of clergy. Just 5% of the Diocese budget is paid to the
national church. There are 43 Diocese in England
and almost as many ways of calculating the share, which should be considered as
a life-giving way of ensuring that the Church can provide a full range of
ministries in all areas.
The
Parish Share for Wonersh with Blackheath for 2008 is £88,462 (a 4.6% increase
on 2007 £₤78,600, which was a 7.24% increase on 2006). The share
represents almost exactly half of the Wonersh normal total expenditure. The division of the Parish Share between
Wonersh and Blackheath is agreed between the respective PCC & DCC
Treasurers. In 2006 Blackheath
contribution to the Parish Share was ₤7,388 in 2006, ₤7,924 in
2007) and the budgeted amount in 2008 is £????, representing a contribution of
some 10% towards the Parish Share.
The
Diocesan Board of Finance Executive discuss their budget proposals with the
various parties over the financial year so that the Synod can agree (at the
November Synod) and inform Parishes.
In summary the elements of the 2008 £10.2M budget are:-
80%
Diocesan cost is Clergy stipends (including salaries, benefits &
allowances, housing costs & pension contributions)
Support for parishes
Council
Tax
Property
15%
Costs of running Services in the Diocese:-
Mission & Development
Non
parochial ministry
Communication
5% Contribution to the
The
Parish Share from each parish contributes some 94% of income for the
Diocese. Historically this was
established by a seemingly ever changing calculation designed to have a fair
division of responsibility to each of the 163
Parishes in the Diocese. The Parish
Share system was revised in 2007 and this year 2008 there are some further
amendments; this is described in the document How
the Parish Share is Calculated in the Guildford Diocese. It is made up of two elements, the Ministry Contribution and the Shared Costs. These are added together, in some cases this
adjusted, and then each parish is asked to pay the Net Share.
The
review for 2007 was based upon:-
The
number of clergy in a Parish of Benefice, in our case one @ ₤39,700.
A
division of the Shared Costs called Potential, calculated from the weekly
attendance figures (membership), and the “Relative Prosperity Factor (RPF).
For
Wonersh with Blackheath the weekly attendance is 203 and the RPF 1.6515.
The membership is based on a count of numbers
attending during October. This figure
may be adjusted for special services.
The average weekly (Sunday & weekdays) attendance is then calculated
as a 3 year rolling figure; in total some 28,000 people worship across the
Diocese each Sunday. For Wonersh with
Blackheath 203 is a relatively high figure as compared with other churches in
the Deanery (and other Deaneries), which
range from 68 at Alfold & Loxwood, to 342 at Cranleigh. Note that this in
NOT the Electoral Roll, as was the case in
previous years, which does not have a direct bearing on the way the Parish
Share is assessed.
You would
expect the prosperity factor to be
high in our Parish, this being based on national statistics of rates and
incomes; It is 1.6515 . In the Diocese the lowest RPF is in Aldershot
Deanery (0.6047) , with the highest being Wisley with Pyrford (1.7625). The calculation uses the data from the
Electoral Roll.
The
calculation is complicated in some Parishes, for instance where they share
clergy, or facilities with other denominations. There is also a cap where the share cannot
be more than a percentage (70%) of their gross parish expenditure. In some parishes there are transitional
arrangements however the scheme will come fully into effect in 2010. None of these provisions apply to Wonersh
with Blackheath.
Comparing
the figures for 2007, 3 parishes in the Diocese faced increases of more than
25%, 25 faced increases more than 15%, and 20 more than 12%. 27 parishes had increases between 6-12%, and
21 less than 6%. Under the new system
40 parishes have a reduction based on previous years, but this has been frozen
for 2007 to help those facing increases above 12%.