The Parochial Fees Order 2009

• Citation: S.I. 2009/2106
• Sections: 13

Section 1 Citation and commencement

This Order may be cited as the Parochial Fees Order 2009 and shall come into operation on 1st January 2010.

Section 2 Prescribed fees

(1) The Table of Parochial Fees set out in Part 1 of the Schedule prescribes the amount of the parochial fees which are to be paid to the persons, in relation to the respective matters, specified in the Table.

(2) The specification in the Table of the persons to whom parochial fees are to be paid is subject to the provisions of section 3 of the Ecclesiastical Fees Measure 1986 (which makes provision as to persons to whom parochial fees are to be paid during a vacancy in a benefice and where a licence of a chapel includes provision fixing fees).

Section 3 Application of Part 2 of the Schedule

Part 2 of the Schedule shall apply in relation to the parochial fees which are prescribed in the Table in Part 1.

Section 4 Definitions

In the Schedule, unless the context otherwise requires—

“burial” includes deposit in a vault or brick grave and the interment or deposit of cremated remains;

“cemetery” means a burial ground maintained by a burial authority;

“Chancellor” means the judge of the consistory court or commissary court of the bishop or archbishop of the diocese;

“churchyard” includes the curtilage of a church and a burial ground of a church whether or not immediately adjoining such church;

“incumbent” means the incumbent of any benefice as defined by the Interpretation Measure 1925 ;

“monument” includes a headstone, cross, kerb, border, vase, chain, railing, tablet, plaque, marker, flatstone, tombstone or monument or tomb of any other kind.

Section 5 Revocation of 2008 Order

The Parochial Fees Order 2008 is revoked.

Section 1 Burial on a separate occasion

In relation to the fee for a burial in a churchyard, “on a separate occasion” means on any occasion other than immediately preceding or following on from a service in church, for example, the interment of cremated remains.

Section 2 Burial of infant

No fee is payable in respect of the funeral or burial of a still-born infant, or for the funeral or burial of an infant dying within the period of one year after birth.

Section 3 Funeral service

If a full funeral service is held at the graveside, the incumbent’s fee is increased to that payable where the service is held in church.

Section 4 Burial of cremated remains in churches or closed churchyards

Where cremated remains are buried in or under a church or in a closed churchyard, the fees payable to the incumbent and the Parochial Church Council are—

(1) where burial is authorised by a general faculty, the same as those laid down in Part 1 for burial in a churchyard;

(2) where burial is authorised by a particular faculty, such sums as may be determined by the Chancellor, who shall specify the person or persons entitled to receive them.

Section 5 Monuments in churchyards

The fees marked (*) include fees for the original inscription.

Where a monument in a churchyard is erected or an additional inscription on a monument is made under the authority of a particular faculty, the fees payable to the incumbent and the Parochial Church Council or either of them shall be such sums as may be determined by the Chancellor, who shall specify the person or persons entitled to receive them.

The incumbent’s fee for an additional inscription on a small cross of wood shall not exceed the current fee payable to the incumbent for the erection of such a monument.

Section 6 Direction by incumbent as to payment of fees

An incumbent who has not executed an assignment of parochial fees to the Diocesan Board of Finance may direct, either generally or in a particular case, that all or part of any fee which is payable to the incumbent under Part 1 shall be payable to the minister performing the service or duty.

Section 7 Searches in church registers etc.

The search fee relates to a ‘particular search’ where the approximate date of the baptism, marriage or burial is known. The fee for a more general search of a church register is negotiable with the incumbent and the Parochial Church Council.

Section 8 Services in crematoria and unconsecrated cemeteries

The Church of England (Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure 1992 contains a provision which has the effect of requiring a minister of a parish, if requested, to perform a funeral service for defined parishioners in any appropriate crematorium or unconsecrated cemetery. The fees prescribed by the Table in Part 1 for such services (which are identical to the fees for services held in consecrated cemeteries) are mandatory except where a local authority or other crematorium authority has fixed charges for these services in which case the authority’s charges will apply.