The Church Commissioners is a body which administers the 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).
The secretary (and chief executive) of the Church Commissioners is John Worth.
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History
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"; 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 (10 & 11 Geo. 6. No. 2).
In 1992 it was revealed that the Church Commissioners had lost £500m through over-commitment of the fund leading to poor investment decisions. 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. By September 2016, it was valued at £7 billion. 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.
In June 2022, the Commissioners acknowledged early links of Queen Anne's Bounty to the Atlantic slave trade. They and Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, apologised. 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.
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.
Responsibilities
The Church Commissioners have the following responsibilities:
Funding mission in churches, dioceses and cathedrals.
Pastoral reorganisation (including mergers of parishes and benefices); supported by the Pastoral Team.
Clergy payroll ensuring clergy are paid their stipend.
Managing the production of Crockford's Clerical Directory.
Managing the Lambeth Palace Library and the Church of England Record Centre.
Portfolio
The CC portfolio in 2020 is extensive, worth around £9.2 billion 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. The CC own a significant amount of rural land and sometimes promote this through Local Plan processes.
List of commissioners
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. 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.
Church Estates Commissioners
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. They are based at Church House, Westminster, having previously had offices at No. 1 Millbank, London.
First Church Estates Commissioners
The First Church Estates Commissioner is appointed by the British Monarch.
Second Church Estates Commissioners
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.
Third Church Estates Commissioners
The Third Church Estates Commissioner is appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury.