The Church's national budget, approved by the General
Synod
The Church's national budget, largely for the training of
ordinands, the Church's national work based in Church House,
Westminster and its contributions to ecumenical bodies is approved
each July by General Synod, in the form of the Archbishops' Council
budget.
The budget is split into five separate areas for discussion and
voting:
Vote 1
Covers the costs of training ordinands for the ordained ministry
- some in colleges and some on courses.
Vote 2
Includes all support, administration and policy work provided at
national level. The particular focus is on work done more cost
effectively and better in one place than in 44 dioceses. This
accounts for 1% of the Church's total expenditure. In July 2010 the
Archbishops' Council committed itself to tight spending control so
that the amount asked through apportionment would not go up by more
than 0.5% below the rate of inflation for 2011 and 2012.
Vote 3
Covers the Church of England's contributions to various Anglican
Communion, ecumenical and other bodies. Grants for the Conference
of European Churches increased 2% and for the Inter-Anglican budget
by 4% in 2011. Other grants were maintained at 2009 levels.
Vote 4
General Synod voted in 1997 for the national Church to take on
the mission agencies' liability for clergy pensions contributions
and is a statutory obligation.
Vote 5
The contributions to the CHARM scheme for retired clergy
housing.