The Faculty Jurisdiction Rules 2015 (as amended) provides in Schedule 1 certain matters which may be undertaken without a Faculty.
List A contains works that may be undertaken without a faculty subject to any specified conditions.
List B contains works that may, subject to any specified conditions, be undertaken without a faculty if the archdeacon has been consulted and has given notice in writing that the matter may be undertaken without a faculty.
Under section 78 of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Care of Churches Measure 2018 and Rule 3.4 of the Faculty Jurisdiction Rules 2015 (as amended), the Chancellor of each Diocese, after seeking the advice of the Diocesan Advisory Committee and the archdeacon of every archdeaconry in which a parish may be affected by the order, may make an Additional Matters Order in respect of temporary changes to the layout of the church building or the installation of equipment.
These Additional Matters Orders may be undertaken without a faculty, and generally need approval by the archdeacon, much in the same way as the List B applications are determined. In some dioceses, these Additional Matters Orders are requested through the Diocesan Registry and approved by the Chancellor.
Additional Matters Orders will not be granted if any of the works requested fall under the matters listed in section 77(7) of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Care of Churches Measure 2018, namely:
- works which involve alteration to or the extension of a listed building to such an extent as would be likely to affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest;
- works which are likely to affect the archaeological importance of a building or any archaeological remains within a building or its curtilage;
- works for all or part of which scheduled monument consent is required under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979;
- works which involve the extension, demolition or partial demolition of a building or the erection of a new building;
- a matter which gives rise to a question of law or doctrine, ritual or ceremonial or which would if undertaken, affect a person’s legal rights;
- the exhumation or other disturbance of human remains;
- the reservation of a grave space;
- the sale or other disposal of an article of architectural, archaeological, artistic or historic interest;
- the sale of a book remaining in or belonging to a parochial library;
- the introduction of an aumbry or another receptacle used for the reservation of the sacrament of Holy Communion;
- the introduction of a monument, or the carrying out of work to a monument erected in or on, or on the curtilage of, a church or other consecrated building or on consecrated ground.
In such cases, a Faculty application will be required.
These Additional Matters Orders must be shared on each diocesan website and each diocesan registrar must register every additional matters order (or order that varies or revokes an additional matters order) in the diocesan registry.
To provide a national context of these Additional Matters Orders, a generalisation of each Diocesan Orders are provided below. For further details on these additional matters, please refer to the diocesan websites.
Matter |
Diocese |
Defibrillators |
Lichfield, Norwich, Truro |
Security funded by grants |
Blackburn |
Commonwealth war graves signage |
Chelmsford, Guildford, Gloucester, Lichfield, London, Oxford Southwark, St Albans, Winchester |
Noticeboards |
Exeter, Norwich, Bristol |
Frontals |
Bristol, Coventry, Exeter, Guildford, Leicester, Lichfield, Norwich, Gloucester |
Christmas lights |
Exeter, Lichfield |
Easter to Ascension lights |
Exeter |
Clarification of routine maintenance |
Oxford |
Repainting of clock faces |
Lichfield, Exeter, Guildford, Gloucester |
Repair or conservation of damaged historic glass |
Lichfield, Bristol, Exeter, Gloucester, Guildford |
Marking of car park spaces and signage for disabled parking |
Lichfield |
'There but not there' installations |
Bath & Wells |
Royal British Legion silent soldier silhouette |
St Albans, Bristol |
Filming |
Chelmsford, St Albans |
Preliminary investigative works (in roof spaces and below ground) |
Bristol, Exeter, Guildford, St Albans |
Similar minor matters to those on Lists A and B |
Chichester |
Bike Racks |
Bristol |
Installation of router and cable in the churchyard |
Winchester, Norwich, Derby |
Installation of a telephone line through the churchyard |
Lincoln |
Temporary electrical installations |
Leicester |
Internet access |
Coventry, Lichfield, Exeter |
Covid-19 measures |
Ely, Lincoln |
Hand sanitisers (A unlisted, B listed) |
St Albans |
Vegetable patches |
Bristol |
Gale breaker screens in towers |
Bristol, Gloucester |
Archaeological test pits |
Bristol, Chelmsford |
Disposal of elements of redundant heating systems |
Bristol, Gloucester |
Felling a tree |
Bristol, Gloucester |
Installation of handrails |
Bristol, Guildford |
Introduction of small functional items in churchyards |
Bristol, Gloucester |
Introduction or replacement of roof insulation |
Bristol |
Streaming cameras |
Bath & Wells, Coventry |
Hand sanitiser unit |
Chelmsford, Oxford |
Removal of sound and loop equipment |
Chelmsford |
Wifi router, including shallow cable |
Bath & Wells, Bristol, Carlisle, Newcastle, Winchester |
Replacement of wall-mounted gas/electric heaters and replacement under pew heating |
Leicester |
Equipment and connection for live streaming |
Bristol, Chelmsford, Exeter, Oxford, Sheffield, St. Albans |
Vaccination Centres |
Derby, Lichfield, Bath & Wells |
Centenary Tree Plaques |
Coventry |
Replacement of CCTV system |
Leicester |
Information boards in churchyards |
Bristol |
The introduction of external 13 Amp. weatherproof sockets |
Bristol |
Internet connectivity |
Exeter, Leicester |
Introduction of raised beds |
Exeter |
Minor works to allow accessibility to the building for social distancing and one-way systems |
Exeter |
Security equipment, including CCTV and lighting |
Leicester |
The introduction of a temporary heating system |
Bristol, Salisbury |
The use of an area for the cultivation of flowers and/or shrubs in church grounds |
Bristol |
Like-for-like repairs to post-1837 windows |
Ely |
The removal of telecommunication equipment |
Bristol |
The introduction of picnic benches to areas exterior to the church |
Bristol |
The transfer of books from parish libraries to Norwich Cathedral |
Norwich |
The installation of a standard plaque to commemorate those whose lives were lost during the Covid-19 pandemic |
Norwich |
Trials relating to heating and lighting solutions for a period of up to 18 months |
Gloucester |
Conservation cleaning and minor conservation repairs to internal and external church memorials of historical interest |
Gloucester |
Repair and cleaning of churchyard memorials and grave markers |
Gloucester |
Cleaning of graffiti |
Gloucester |
Carrying out specialist sampling |
Gloucester |
Minor modifications to rainwater disposal systems |
Gloucester |
Replacement of a wrought iron clapper with a spheroidal graphite iron clapper |
Gloucester |
The installation of emergency lighting and safety equipment in the main body of the church |
Gloucester |
Introduction of wall-mounted card payment systems, which require fixing to fabric | Winchester |
Giving permission for the use of a church hall by a third party License required - subject to a maximum of 48 hours per user per month |
Winchester |
Giving permission for the use of a church by a third party License required - subject to the Minister (or area dean) being satisfied that the use authorised would not contravene Canons F15 and F16. Maximum of 48 hours per user per month. The total allowable across a month is 120 hours. |
Winchester |
The introduction of a ladder fixing to aid safe gutter and valley clearance and maintenance. |
Salisbury |