| Predecessor: | Ecclesiastical Commissioners Queen Anne's Bounty |
| Status: | Registered charity |
| Purpose: | Investment |
| Headquarters: | Church House, Westminster, London |
| Leader Title: | Secretary and Chief Executive |
| Leader Name: | Gareth Mostyn |
| Leader Title2: | First Church Estates Commissioner |
| Leader Name2: | Alan Smith |
| Leader Title3: | Second Church Estates Commissioner |
| Leader Name3: | Andrew Selous |
| Leader Title4: | Third Church Estates Commissioner |
| Leader Name4: | Eve Poole |
| Parent Organization: | General Synod of the Church of England |
| Church Commissioners for England | |
| Region Served: | England |
| Membership: | 33 |
| Num Staff: | 66 |
| Budget Year: | 2017 |
The Church Commissioners is a body which administers the property assets of the Church of England. It was established in 1948 and combined the assets of Queen Anne's Bounty, a fund dating from 1704 for the relief of poor clergy, and of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners formed in 1836. The Church Commissioners are a registered charity regulated by the Charity Commission for England and Wales, and are liable for the payment of pensions to retired clergy whose pensions were accrued before 1998 (subsequent pensions are the responsibility of the Church of England Pensions Board).
The secretary (and chief executive) of the Church Commissioners is Gareth Mostyn.
The Church Building Act 1818 granted money and established the Church Building Commission to build churches in the cities of the Industrial Revolution. These churches became known variously as Commissioners' churches, Waterloo churches or Million Act churches. The Church Building Commission became the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1836.
An earlier Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues Commission had been set up under the first brief administration of Sir Robert Peel in 1835 with a wide remit, "to consider the State of the Established Church in England and Wales, with reference to Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues" (Minutes of the Commission, 9 February 1835); this body redistributed wealth between the dioceses and changed diocesan boundaries, and the permanent Ecclesiastical Commission was formed the following year.
The Church Commissioners were established in 1948 as a merger of Queen Anne's Bounty and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, following the passage, by the National Assembly of the Church of England, of the (10 & 11 Geo. 6. No. 2).[1]
In 1992 it was revealed that the Church Commissioners had lost £500m through over-commitment of the fund leading to poor investment decisions.[2] This figure was later revised up to £800m, a third of their assets.
The value of the commissioners' assets was around £5.5 billion as at the end of 2012.[3] By September 2016, it was valued at £7 billion.[4] The income is used for the payment of pensions to retired clergy whose pensions were accrued before 1998 (subsequent pensions are the responsibility of the Church of England Pensions Board) and a range of other commitments including supporting the ministries of bishops and cathedrals and funding various diocesan and parish missions initiatives.[5]
In June 2022, the Commissioners acknowledged early links of Queen Anne's Bounty to the Atlantic slave trade. They and the Archbishop of Canterbury apologised. In January 2023 the Commissioners announced that they were setting up a fund of £100 million to be spent over the next nine years on addressing historic links with slavery.[6]
The Commissioners also oversee pastoral reorganisation, the consent of the commissioners being required for establishing or dissolving team and group ministries, uniting, creating, or dissolving benefices and parishes, and the closing of consecrated church buildings and graveyards.
The Church Commissioners are now based at Church House, Westminster, London, having long occupied No. 1 Millbank. The Millbank building was sold in 2005 to the House of Lords for accommodation of members and staff; the commissioners completed the move to Church House in 2007.[7] They used to be an exempt charity under English law, and is now a registered charity regulated by the Charity Commission for England and Wales.[8]
The secretary (and chief executive) of the Church Commissioners is Gareth Mostyn.[9]
The Church Commissioners have the following responsibilities:[10]
The CC portfolio in 2020 is extensive, worth around £9.2 billion[13] and includes the Hyde Park Estate and a 10% stake in the MetroCentre shopping centre. The CC are the 13th largest landowner in the UK.[14] The CC own a significant amount of rural land and sometimes promote this through Local Plan processes.[15]
There are 33 Church Commissioners, of whom 27 make up the board of governors as the main policy-making body, with a further 6 who are officers of state or Government ministers. Board members are either elected by the General Synod of the Church of England, or appointed by either the archbishops or the Crown. The board of governors is composed of all of the commissioners apart from the First Lord of the Treasury, the Lord President of the Council, the Lord Chancellor, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the Speaker of the House of Commons, and the Lord Speaker.
The 33 commissioners are as follows:[16] [17]
| Portfolio | Name | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Archbishop of Canterbury | Chairman ex officio | Justin Welby | [18] | |
| The Archbishop of York | Stephen Cottrell | |||
| The First Church Estates Commissioner[19] | Alan Smith | [20] | ||
| The Second Church Estates Commissioner[21] | Andrew Selous | [22] | ||
| The Third Church Estates Commissioner[23] | Flora Winfield | [24] | ||
| Four bishops[25] < | -- Note that bishops outside the house do not qualify for election --> | Vivienne Faull | ||
| Stephen Lake | ||||
| Graham Usher | ||||
| Pete Wilcox | ||||
| Two deans elected by the deans | Mark Bonney | |||
| Rogers Govender | ||||
| Three clergy elected by those members of the House of Clergy who are not deans | Amatu Christian-Iwuagwu | |||
| Sarah Geileskey | ||||
| Christopher Smith | ||||
| Four laypeople elected by the House of Laity | Richard Denno | |||
| Nick Land | ||||
| Cathy Rhodes | ||||
| Robert Zampetti | ||||
| Three members nominated by the Crown | Suzanne Avery | |||
| Kif Hancock | ||||
| Nigel Timmins | ||||
| Three members nominated by the archbishops acting jointly | Busola Sodeinde | |||
| Kate Barker | ||||
| Morag Ellis | ||||
| Three members nominated by the archbishops acting jointly after consultation with: * the lord mayors of the cities of London and York * the vice chancellors of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge | Jenny Buck | |||
| Remi Olu-Pitan | ||||
| Helen Steers | ||||
| The First Lord of the Treasury | Sir Keir Starmer | |||
| The Lord President of the Council | Lucy Powell | |||
| The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain | Shabana Mahmood | |||
| The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport | Lisa Nandy | |||
| The Speaker of the House of Commons | Sir Lindsay Hoyle | |||
| The Lord Speaker | John McFall, Baron McFall of Alcluith | |||
The Church Estates Commissioners are three lay people who represent the Church Commissioners in the General Synod of the Church of England. The first and second commissioners are appointed by the British monarch, and the third commissioner is appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury.[26] They are based at Church House, Westminster, having previously had offices at No. 1 Millbank, London.[27]
The First Church Estates Commissioner is appointed by the British Monarch.
The Second Church Estates Commissioner is appointed by the Crown. They are now always a Member of Parliament from the party in government, and have additional duties as a link between the British Parliament and the Church.[36]
The Third Church Estates Commissioner is appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury.