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The Bishop of London has made Directions to enable the following meetings to take place by virtual means: Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM), Annual Meeting of Parishioners and Parochial Church Councils (PCCs).

Annual meetings (APCM) take place in parishes before 31 May each year. The annual meeting receives reports on changes to the electoral roll, general parish activities and financial matters. The annual meeting also elects new members to the PCC and to deanery synod every three years.

The legal aspects of convening and running annual meetings are covered in Part 9, section A of the Church Representation Rules 2022, or a copy can be obtained from Church House Bookshop.

It is strongly advised that parishes obtain a copy of ‘Church Representation Rules 2022, issued on 31 March 2021 which replaces the 2020 version.

Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM)

APCMs must be held every year in every parish, and not later than 31 May, and a notice of the meeting must be displayed for a period including the last two Sundays before the meeting. The minister of the parish chairs the meeting, or if they are not present, the vice-chair of the PCC.

The Business of the APCM

Receiving reports from the PCC

The annual meeting receives from the PCC and is free to discuss the report on changes in the electoral roll since the last meeting, an annual report on the proceedings of the PCC and the activities of the parish generally, the audited or independently examined financial statement of the PCC for the previous year, a report on the fabric, goods and ornaments of the church, and a report on the proceedings of the deanery synod.

Electing deanery synod and PCC representatives

The norm for PCC elections is now for one-third of the PCC to be elected each year, although some APCMs have voted to retain whole PCCs being annually elected.

The numbers to be elected to the deanery synods by parishes are calculated on the basis of electoral roll numbers and other factors, every third year, and are agreed by the Diocesan Synod. The number of representatives for each parish remain for same for the three-year term. If someone resigns, for instance, and a vacancy occurs, this should be filled by a casual vacancy election, using the PCC if an APCM is not due to be held within two months. Note that the person elected only serves for the remainder of the term of the member who caused the vacancy to arise.

Annual Return

Each year, parishes are required to submit mission and finance data. To view the data entry portal please click here.

Statistics for Mission:

The deadline for entering information is the end of January. Thank you to those parishes who have submitted their data on time.

Financial Statistics:

These need to be provided as soon as possible after the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (“APCM”), which must be no held no later than 31st May. See Rule M1 (1) of the new Church Representation Rules 2022.

Annual Report and Audited Accounts:

These should be uploaded as soon as possible after they have been presented at your APCM.

Electoral Roll

2019 saw the preparation of new church electoral rolls, which meant that everyone had to come off the roll and re-apply. This takes place only once in every six years. The next preparation of new rolls will be in 2025, and the one after that, 2031.

In the intervening years, the usual annual revision of the electoral rolls takes places.

As ever, parishes have to submit their electoral roll figure after the APCM.

APCM Resources are below:

FileAction
Notice of Revision of Electoral Roll PDFDownload
Notice of Revision of Electoral Roll WORD versionDownload
Notice of meeting of parishioners to elect Churchwardens PDFDownload
Notice of meeting of parishioners to elect Churchwardens WORD version Download
Notice of Annual Parochial Church meeting (APCM) PDFDownload
Notice of Annual Parochial Church meeting WORD versionDownload
Nomination of a PCC member PDFDownload
Nomination of a PCC member WORD versionDownload
Nomination of a deanery synod member PDFDownload
Nomination of a deanery synod member WORD versionDownload
Nomination of a churchwarden PDFDownload
Nomination of a churchwarden WORD versionDownload
Electoral Roll certificate to display in church PDFDownload
Electoral Roll certificate to display in church WORD versionDownload
Application for Enrolment on Electoral Roll PDFDownload
Application for Enrolment on Electoral Roll WORD versionDownload
Annual parish meeting results WORD versionDownload
Annual parish meeting results PDFDownload
Sample schedule for revision of Electoral Roll.pdfDownload

 

PCCs

Number of lay representatives on the PCC,

Number on Electoral Roll Number of representatives to be elected
50 or less 6
51 – 100 9
101–200 12
over 200 15

 

Note that parishes are permitted to set a different (i.e. higher or lower) number of lay representatives to elect, (e.g. a parish with an electoral roll of 101-200 may consider 10 rather than 12 representatives to be more appropriate). This is done by passing a resolution at the APCM.  Any such resolution, however, will only take effect from the following APCM.

The term of office of elected lay members of the PCC

The length of time that an elected member serves on the PCC is three years, with a third of the PCC to be elected each year – unless the APCM decides to retain the system of annual election of the whole PCC. Such a decision, when taken, is effective in the year in which it is passed, and must be reviewed at least every six years.

Declarations that a person is not disqualified from being a PCC member.

In order to assist in meeting statutory requirements, Forms of Declaration that a person is not disqualified from being a charity trustee, and therefore a PCC member, have been produced for use in parishes from 2019 onwards. These forms replace the previous form, and reflect changes in the regulations. Copies of the updated form, together with a cover note, can be obtained from the resource downloads at the bottom of this page (in the grey box).

These forms should be completed and signed by all members of the PCC.

(They can be printed on one sheet of paper ‘back-to-back’).

Deanery Synods

Elections of lay representatives to deanery synods took place at Annual Parochial Church Meetings in 2023. In December 2022 letters were sent to PCC Secretaries to inform them of the number of places allocated for lay representatives of their parishes on the deanery synods.

The allocation is determined by the number of persons on the church’s electoral roll. It may therefore change from one time to another. Please note that the allocation remains the same throughout the three-year term. For details of the allocations, please download ‘Representation on Deanery Synods’ from the resource downloads at the bottom of this page (the grey box).

Churchwardens’ length of service – Churchwardens Measure 2001. Disqualification after six periods of office (Section 3)

It should be noted that a person is disqualified from being appointed to the office of churchwarden when they have served as churchwarden of the same parish for six years in succession. A person must have a gap of at least two years before serving again.

However, the Annual Meeting of Parishioners can pass a resolution to the effect that this section of the Measure shall not apply, which would allow the person in question to be appointed after the six years has expired. Such a resolution would take effect immediately. The end of the first six-year period, since this rule came into effect, was the Annual Meeting of Parishioners held in 2008.

This, therefore, meant that any churchwarden who had served continuously since the Annual Meeting of Parishioners of 2002 could not be re-appointed in 2008 unless the Meeting had passed a resolution specifically overruling this provision in relation to the parish, which would enable them to be reappointed.

Any such resolution can be revoked by a subsequent Annual Meeting of Parishioners.

If necessary, advice can be obtained from the Diocesan Registrar.

For further information, contact the Head of Governance Monica Bolley or the Senior Governance Officer, Lizzy Millar.

Resources

FileAction
Cover Note - PCC Members - Declarations PDFDownload
Cover Note - PCC Members - Declarations WORD versionDownload
PCC Members - Declarations PDFDownload
PCC Members - Declarations WORD versionDownload
2023-2026 - Deanery Synod representation - Schedule of allocation to parishes.pdfDownload
Election of churchwardens from 2008 onDownload
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