Church Commissioners

Summary

The Church Commissioners is a body which administers the property assets of the Church of England. It was established in 1948 and combined the assets of Queen Anne's Bounty, a fund dating from 1704 for the relief of poor clergy, and of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners formed in 1836. The Church Commissioners are a registered charity regulated by the Charity Commission for England and Wales, and are liable for the payment of pensions to retired clergy whose pensions were accrued before 1998 (subsequent pensions are the responsibility of the Church of England Pensions Board).

Church Commissioners for England
PredecessorEcclesiastical Commissioners
Queen Anne's Bounty
Formation2 April 1948; 75 years ago (1948-04-02)
Legal statusRegistered charity
PurposeInvestment
HeadquartersChurch House, Westminster, London
Region served
England
Membership
33
Secretary and Chief Executive
Gareth Mostyn
First Church Estates Commissioner
Alan Smith
Second Church Estates Commissioner
Andrew Selous MP
Third Church Estates Commissioner
Eve Poole
Parent organization
General Synod of the Church of England
Budget (2017)
£285,802,166
Staff
66
Websitewww.churchofengland.org/about/leadership-and-governance/church-commissioners
No. 1 Millbank, built for the Church Commissioners by W. D. Caroe (1903)

The secretary (and chief executive) of the Church Commissioners is Gareth Mostyn.

History edit

The Church Building Act 1818 granted money and established the Church Building Commission to build churches in the cities of the Industrial Revolution. These churches became known variously as Commissioners' churches, Waterloo churches or Million Act churches. The Church Building Commission became the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1836.

An earlier Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues Commission had been set up under the first brief administration of Sir Robert Peel in 1835 with a wide remit, "to consider the State of the Established Church in England and Wales, with reference to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues" (Minutes of the Commission, 9 February 1835); this body redistributed wealth between the dioceses and changed diocesan boundaries, and the permanent Ecclesiastical Commission was formed the following year.

The Church Commissioners were established in 1948 as a merger of Queen Anne’s Bounty and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, following the passage, by the National Assembly of the Church of England, of the Church Commissioners Measure 1947.[1][2]

In 1992 it was revealed that the Church Commissioners had lost £500m through over-commitment of the fund leading to poor investment decisions.[3] This figure was later revised up to £800m, a third of their assets.

The value of the commissioners' assets was around £5.5 billion as at the end of 2012.[4] By September 2016, it was valued at £7 billion.[5] The income is used for the payment of pensions to retired clergy whose pensions were accrued before 1998 (subsequent pensions are the responsibility of the Church of England Pensions Board) and a range of other commitments including supporting the ministries of bishops and cathedrals and funding various diocesan and parish missions initiatives.[6]

In June 2022, the Commissioners acknowledged early links of Queen Anne's Bounty to the Atlantic slave trade. They and the Archbishop of Canterbury apologised.[2] In January 2023 the Commissioners announced that they were setting up a fund of £100 million to be spent over the next nine years on addressing historic links with slavery.[7]

The Commissioners also oversee pastoral reorganisation, the consent of the commissioners being required for establishing or dissolving team and group ministries, uniting, creating, or dissolving benefices and parishes, and the closing of consecrated church buildings and graveyards.

The Church Commissioners are now based at Church House, Westminster, London, having long occupied No. 1 Millbank.[8] The Millbank building was sold in 2005 to the House of Lords for accommodation of members and staff; the commissioners completed the move to Church House in 2007.[9] They used to be an exempt charity under English law, and is now a registered charity regulated by the Charity Commission for England and Wales.[10][11]

The secretary (and chief executive) of the Church Commissioners is Gareth Mostyn.[12]

Responsibilities edit

The Church Commissioners have the following responsibilities:[13]

Portfolio edit

 
The MetroCentre in Gateshead is one of the largest CC investments

The CC portfolio in 2020 is extensive, worth around £9.2 billion[16] and includes the Hyde Park Estate and a 10% stake in the MetroCentre shopping centre. The CC are the 13th largest landowner in the UK.[17] The CC own a significant amount of rural land and sometimes promote this through Local Plan processes.[18]

List of commissioners edit

There are 33 Church Commissioners, of whom 27 make up the board of governors as the main policy-making body, with a further 6 who are officers of state or Government ministers. Board members are either elected by the General Synod of the Church of England, or appointed by either the archbishops or the Crown.[6] The board of governors is composed of all of the commissioners apart from the First Lord of the Treasury, the Lord President of the Council, the Lord Chancellor, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the Speaker of the House of Commons, and the Lord Speaker.[1]

The 33 commissioners are as follows:[1][19]

Portfolio Name Notes
The Archbishop of Canterbury Chairman ex officio[1] The Most Revd and Rt Hon Justin Welby, PC [20]
The Archbishop of York The Most Revd and Rt Hon Stephen Cottrell
The First Church Estates Commissioner[21] Alan Smith [22]
The Second Church Estates Commissioner[23] Andrew Selous, MP [24]
The Third Church Estates Commissioner[25] The Revd Flora Winfield [26]
Four Bishops[27] The Rt Revd Vivienne Faull, Bishop of Bristol
The Rt Revd Christine Hardman, Bishop of Newcastle
The Rt Revd David Urquhart, Bishop of Birmingham
The Rt Revd David Walker, Bishop of Manchester
Two deans elected by the deans Mark Bonney
Stephen Lake
Three clergy elected by those members of the House of Clergy who are not deans Christopher Smith
Anne Stevens
Stephen Trott
Four laypeople elected by the House of Laity Jay Greene
Peter Bruinvels
Elizabeth Rennshaw
Jacob Vince
Three members nominated by the Crown Suzanne Avery
Nigel Timmins
Duncan Owen
Three members nominated by the archbishops acting jointly Busola Sodeinde
Morag Ellis QC
Mark Woolley
Three members nominated by the archbishops acting jointly after consultation with:
* the lord mayors of the cities of London and York
* the vice chancellors of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge
Poppy Allonby
Alan Smith
Helen Steers
The First Lord of the Treasury Rishi Sunak, MP
The Lord President of the Council Penny Mordaunt, MP
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain Alex Chalk, MP
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lucy Frazer, MP
The Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP
The Lord Speaker John McFall, Baron McFall of Alcluith

Church Estates Commissioners edit

The Church Estates Commissioners are three lay people who represent the Church Commissioners in the General Synod of the Church of England. The first and second commissioners are appointed by the British monarch, and the third commissioner is appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury.[28] They are based at Church House, Westminster, having previously had offices at No. 1 Millbank, London.[29]

First Church Estates Commissioners edit

The First Church Estates Commissioner is appointed by the British Monarch.

Second Church Estates Commissioners edit

The Second Church Estates Commissioner is appointed by the Crown. They are now always a Member of Parliament from the party in government, and have additional duties as a link between the British Parliament and the Church.[43]

Third Church Estates Commissioners edit

The Third Church Estates Commissioner is appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

See also edit

References edit

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External links edit

  • The Church Commissioners
  • Church Commissioners Measure 1947 at the UK Statute Law Database
  • Church Commissioners Measure 1970 at the UK Statute Law Database