Guidance, Forms and Fees

Guidance, forms and links relating to ministry, buildings, safeguarding, finance and parish life are listed here.

Can't find what you need? Try the documents page or give us a call on 01227 459401. 

Jump to the following sections:

• Church Buildings & Churchyards
• Clergy
• Communion
• Data Protection
• Finance
• Parochial Fees
• Readers (Licensed Lay Ministers)
• Safeguarding
• Statistics for Mission

Church Buildings & Churchyards

• Alternative venues for regular worship in cold weather
• Safety of burial grounds
• Theft of metal – Guidance from Ecclesiastical
• Caring for God’s Acre – The conservation charity for churchyards and burial grounds.  practical advice on looking after your churchyard
• Caring for Historic Graveyard and Cemetery Monuments (Paradise Preserved) – An Historic England guidance note on the conservation and management of cemeteries
• Conservation and repair of bells and bellframes – code of practice
• List A and List B matters
• Churchyard closure application form and guidance notes
• Practical suggestions to help parishes save energy and money
• Calendar of care
• Trees – A guide on the planting, felling, lopping and topping of trees in churchyards
• Funding for church building projects

Re-ordering projects

• Examples of church re-ordering projects 
• A step-by-step guide to project planning - Making changes to your building and churchyard | The Church of England

Maintenance

• Maintenance Booker – A service by National Churches Trust which makes it easy for churches, chapels and historic buildings to access the highest standard of building maintenance services
• Historic England – Historic England’s specific advice on maintaining places of worship
• The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings – SPAB manages a scheme called Faith in Maintenance, the scheme is there to help parish better repair and understand their Church buildings.
• Building Conservation Directory –  This resource includes lists of potential contractors, products, articles and advice on a range of conservation/repair issues.
• Church Buildings Council – The Church Buildings Council provides advice on a variety of aspects of church maintenance and repair.

Clergy

All policies related to Clergy Terms of Service including the Canterbury Handbook for Clergy are currently being revised and therefore the guidance in these documents may not be current. Please contact Michael Keeler-Walker or Sam Mann in People Services and Operations if you have any queries or need any support (01227 459401).

• Counselling Service for clergy and their families
• Parental Leave

Terms of service

• Clergy HR resources from the Church of England 

Communion

• Public Worship with Communion by Extension – guidance for parishes
• Guidelines issued by the House of Bishops

Data Protection 

• Data Protection advice for parishes from the Church of England

Finance

(Scroll down further for ‘Parochial Fees’)

• Clergy fees in vacancy
• Clergy fees in vacancy (Excel)
• Clergy payroll services 

Bank accounts

• Review of bank account tariffs.

Gift Aid

• HMRC declaration checklist
• Sample completed monthly sheet

Parochial Fees

• Please fill in this online Nil Return form to record that your parish has not received any parochial fees for the stated month. 
• Guidance for completing parochial fees form
• Record of Parochial fees Received 2025 – (Excel format) 
• Record of Parochial fees Received 2026 – (Excel format) 
• Claim for Officiating at an Occasional Office – (PDF format) (Excel format) To be completed by non-stipendiary ministers only
• Occasional Office Fees to Forward to DBF – (Excel format) (PDF format)
  Please note that fees should normally be sent to the Parish Treasurer to include with the Record of Parochial Fees Received. Only use this form if that method is not possible. 

Table of Parochial Fees

• 2026
• 2025

If you have any queries about fees, please contact our Finance team on finance@diocant.org or 01227 459401.

Readers (Licensed Lay Ministers)

• Readers Handbook

Safeguarding

Guidelines

• Parish Toolkit | Church of England
• Safeguarding Guidance for Local Ecumenical Partnerships – The Church of England
• Canterbury Cathedral Safeguarding
• Safeguarding in the Church of England
• Domestic Abuse
• Responding Well to Victims and Survivors of Abuse
• Ex-Offender (Blemished DBS) Policy
• Managing Allegation Summary
• PCC questions

Policy statements

• Safeguarding policy statement
• For Parish Safeguarding Policy Statements please see the Church of England website here
• Diocesan and Cathedral Domestic Abuse Policy
• Diocesan Survivor Care Policy

Forms and posters

• Church of England Safer Church/PSO/DSA and referrals poster (Word format)
• Photo consent form
• ChildLine posters and wallet cards
• Safeguarding poster - children and young person version (Word format)
• Decision maker
• Safeguarding Decision Tree
• Lessons learned 24-25 paper

Checklists

• Parish Safeguarding Checklist – (Word format)

Job descriptions

• Parish Safeguarding Officers

• Disclosure Officers

Safeguarding Information

• Lone working
• A safe environment for children – (Word format)
• Human Trafficking and Exploitation
• Towards a Safer Church: Liturgical Resources
• Code of Safer Working Practice

Disclosure and Barring Service Information

• Consent form for external validation (2017)
• DBS Code of Practice
• DBS ID checking guidelines
• DBS list of offences that will never be filtered from a criminal record check

Training Resources

• Safeguarding Quiz
• A Safeguarding Snakes and Ladders game - image
• A Safeguarding Snakes and Ladders game - PDF

Statistics for Mission

• Fill in your Parish Returns.

For any assistance with the Parish Returns service, please contact Cordelia Sain-Ley-Berry-Gray (01227 459401).