Parochial Fees Order 1992

Maid (Sealed by the Church Commissioners): 14th July 1992

Laid before the General Synod in draft: 11th July 1992

Laid before Parliament: 16th July 1992

Coming into Force: 1st January 1993

The Church Commissioners for England, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by section 1 of the Ecclesiastical Fees Measure 1986[^f00001], hereby make the following Order, a draft of which has been approved by the General Synod in accordance with section 2(1) of the said Measure—

1

The Table of Parochial Fees set forth in the Schedule to this Order is hereby established and contains particulars of the parochial fees which, subject to the provisions of section 3 of the said Measure, are to be payable to the persons therein named in relation to the respective matters therein specified.

2

In this Order, unless the context otherwise requires—

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

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

• “incumbent” means the incumbent of any benefice as defined by the Interpretation Measure 1925[^f00002];

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

• “cemetery” means a burial ground maintained by a Burial Authority;

• “monument” includes headstones, crosses, kerbs, borders, vases, chains, railings, tablets, flatstones, tombstones or monuments or tombs of any other kind.

3

The Parochial Fees Order 1991[^f00003] is hereby revoked.

4

This Order may be cited as the Parochial Fees Order 1992, and shall come into operation on the 1st January 1993.

SCHEDULE — TABLE OF PAROCHIAL FEES

PART I

PART II

Burial on a separate occasion

1

The fee for a burial in a churchyard on a separate occasion means on any occasion other than immediately following a service in church, for example the interment of cremated remains.

Burial of infant

2

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

Funeral service

3

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.

Cremated remains in churches or closed churchyards

4

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:

• (i) where burial is authorised by a general faculty, the same as those laid down in Part I of this table for burial in a churchyard;

• (ii) where burial is authorised by a particular faculty, such sums as may be determined by the chancellor.

Monuments in churchyards

5

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 persons entitled to receive them.

Monuments in churches

6

Where a faculty is granted in connection with the erection of a monument or tablet in a church or any additional inscription thereon, the fees payable to the incumbent and the parochial church council or either of them shall be determined by the chancellor who shall specify the persons entitled to receive them.

The incumbent’s fees

7

Unless the incumbent has signed a Deed of Assignment in favour of the Diocesan Board of Finance he may direct either generally or in particular cases that all or part of any fee which would otherwise be payable to him shall be payable to the minister performing the service or duty.

Reservation of grave space: vaults

8

Payment of any of the fees prescribed by this table does not confer any right to construct a new vault or an exclusive right to a grave or vault. Where a faculty is granted conferring rights for a period specified in the faculty, the fees payable to the incumbent and the parochial church council or either of them shall be determined by the chancellor who shall specify the persons entitled to receive them.

Searches in Church Registers, etc.

9

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 would be negotiable with the incumbent and the parochial church council.

Services in crematoria and unconsecrated cemeteries

10

The Church of England (Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure 1992[^f00006] 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 crematorium or unconsecrated cemetery. The fees prescribed by this table for such services (which are identical in amount 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.

Signed

The draft of this Order wasapproved by the General Synod of the Church of England on the 13th day of July 1992

P. J. C. Mawer — Secretary General

THE COMMON SEAL of the Church Commissioners was hereunto affixed this 14th day of July 1992

P. Locke — Secretary

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

Article 1 and the Schedule establish a new table of fees payable for certain matters in connection with baptisms, marriages and burials, for the erection of monuments in churchyards and for other miscellaneous matters. The fees are in substitution for fees prescribed by the Parochial Fees Order 1991.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1986 No. 2.

[^f00002]: (1925 No. 1 (15 & 16 Geo. 5).

[^f00003]: S.I. 1991/1758.

[^f00004]: 1961 No. 2 (9 & 10 Eliz. 2).

[^f00005]: 1836 c. 71.

[^f00006]: 1992 No.1.