Church Commissioners

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]

The Church Commissioners have the following responsibilities:[13]

• Funding mission in churches, dioceses and cathedrals.[14]
• Pastoral reorganisation (including mergers of parishes and benefices); supported by the Pastoral Team.[15]
• 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.

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]

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]

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]

• Allchurches Trust
• Churches Conservation Trust

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