Your answers
Is the “parish share”, levied by each diocese, enforceable?
No. The parish share or diocesan quota is a voluntary payment made by a PCC to the diocesan board of finance. If it is assessed and demanded in such a way as to become a quasi-tax, then it may be unlawful, since there is no parliamentary sanction for it.
It is possible, however, for the voluntary payment to become legally enforceable by means of a contract. PCCs should, therefore, avoid entering into agreements whereby past arrears or future payments of parish share are promised in return for some benefit, such as an extra member of staff.
(The Revd) Paul Benfield
Fleetwood
The question is not applicable in every diocese.
When we moved to Cumbria two years ago, we found that in the Carlisle diocese there is no parish share or quota. Instead, each parish makes a “parish offering” to the diocese according to its self-assessed ability to pay.
This is a voluntary contribution, and so the concept of enforceability does not and cannot arise.
Bruce Wood
Aspatria
Cumbria
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