Parish Governance
Each parish has a Parochial Church Council (PCC) which acts as the decision-making body for many of the church’s activities. It includes, among others, the Incumbent, a Lay Chair and a PCC Secretary (some also include other parish officers such as Churchwardens and PCC Treasurers).
Many of the roles and functions of the PCC can be found in the PCC Secretaries’ Handbook, below, which gives a clear interpretation of the Church Representation Rules in matters such as Parish Council meetings and Annual Parochial Church Council and Parishioners’ Meetings.
Additional information, including many of the forms set out for financial and safeguarding governance, can be found on the Parish Resources website.
The annual PCC Secretaries Letter from the Diocesan Secretary is a useful resource that covers upcoming APCMs, the full revision of the Electoral Roll, and the information that relates to the role of PCC Secretary. If you should have any queries please do not hesitate to get in touch with us and we will be happy to help.
Complaints Procedure
The Diocesan Referal Group has produced a Complaints Procedure for use within a parish or Deanery within the Diocese. The policy sets out the various ways in which the Diocese of Southwark seeks to resolve complaints and can be found here.
Annual Parochial Church Meetings (APCMs)
Annual Parochial Church Meetings have detailed timings for electoral roll revisions. An easy-to-use planner is available to help you in determining when different aspects have to take place depending on the date of your APCM.
We are currently updating our planner tool, thank you for your patience while we work on this.
Electoral Rolls and Deanery Representatives
Each year, parishes are asked to review the number of people listed on their electoral roll and confirm their Deanery Representatives on Deanery Synod. Reminders about this are sent from the Diocesan Secretary each year. The forms used for this, and additional resources to help with the process, can be obtained from the Parish Resources website and below:
ER Cert SG7 (white) Display Copy
ER Cert SG7 (blue) Diocese Copy
ER Cert SG7 (yellow) Deanery Copy
Revision of the Electoral Roll
As part of the 6-yearly timetable, 2025 is a year in which a completely new Electoral Roll needs to be prepared. Guidance on the process can be found in the enclosed briefing paper and extract from the Church Representation Rules. I’d be grateful if you could bring this to the attention of your Electoral Roll Officer as a matter of urgency.
The forms you will need for notifications and applications are listed below, they can be printed and filled in by hand or completed on a computer:
Form 1 – Application for Enrolment on the church electoral roll
Form 2 – Notice of Revision of Church Electoral Roll
Form 3 – Notice of preparation of new roll
This briefing paper will further support you through the process, but as always please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.
The Church Representation Rules are available online at the following location on the Church of England website:
http://www.churchofengland.org/about-us/structure/churchlawlegis/church-representation- rules/church-representation-rules-online.aspx
Included in the application for enrolment is an optional section for Parish Communication which parishes can use, if the applicant wishes, to hold contact data for church news, activities, events and fundraising. This data should be used in accordance with your Privacy Policy.
PCC Secretaries & Administrators Conference
Following the continuing success of the PCC Secretaries’ & Parish Administrators’ conferences, we were pleased to welcome PCC Secretaries & Parish Administrators from across the Diocese to events held both in-person and online in June 2024. Contributions from Trinity House Staff and the Archdeacon of Croydon covered a varied range of topics from the role and responsibilities of a PCC to to the wider context of Diocesan activities including Southwark Vision 2024-2035, Communications, and Lay Ministries. A copy of the slides used at the events can be found here.
Event dates for the rest of the Triennium, venue TBC:
Saturday 7 June 2025 – in person at St Peter’s Battersea
Monday 9/06/2025 – online
Saturday 30 May 2026 – in person
Monday 01/06/2026 – online
Saturday 29 May 2027 – in person
Monday 31/05/2027 – online
Churchwarden Elections
Churchwardens are elected at the Parishioners’ Meeting, usually held at the same time as the APCM. Details of the rules covering Churchwardens can be found in the Churchwardens’ Measure.
Following the election, the Churchwarden Declaration must be signed by the Chair of the meeting and by the elected Churchwarden(s). Churchwardens must then bring the completed Declaration to the Archdeacon’s Visitation Service (see Events Page for dates) to be handed in.
Below are the two documents that are required for Churchwarden election as well as the Declaration, available in Word (fill-able electronically) and PDF formats, for your convenience.
