Conference Extra: How to get your money back

Well, some of it. The diocesan Ministry Share Rebate scheme is now under way.

Deficits aside, those concerned with the diocesan finances continue to wrestle with the knotty problem of Ministry Share.

At the recent Diocesan Conference, Tim Llewelyn, Vice Chair of the Diocesan Board of Finance, announced a new scheme aimed at tackling the arrears on contributions that affect half of our LMAs.

In a nutshell, the DBF is introducing a system of rebates to those LMAs that meet their quotas for 2024 – the more you pay, the more you get back.

The criteria for the percentage of rebate available are:

• For those Churches which have paid their Ministry Share in full for all four quarters the Board will rebate the sum of 4% of their total contribution.
• For those Churches which have paid their Ministry Share in full for three quarters the Board will rebate the sum of 3% of their total contribution.
• For those Churches which have paid their Ministry Share in full for two quarters the Board will rebate the sum of 2% of their total contribution.
• For those Churches which have paid their Ministry Share in full for one quarter the Board will rebate the sum of 1% of their total contribution.

The scheme relates to payments of ‘full quarters’ or the equivalent. So, if a church has a quarterly Ministry Share of £3,000 and has paid £1,000 in Q1 and £2,000 in Q2, they have paid the equivalent of a full quarter.

But time is short. To qualify, completed payments must be made by January 17th 2025.

Mr Llewelyn reminded Conference that 78% of Ministry Share goes to the provision of clergy (83.5 of them) and represents 76% of diocesan income. “We rely heavily on Ministry Share contributions,” he said. “Everything pre-supposes that we receive those contributions.”