Parish Share

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About Parish Share

Parish Share is how churches across the Diocese of Liverpool work together to fund ministry and mission. Through Parish Share, every parish contributes towards the collective cost of clergy stipends, housing, pensions, training and the support needed to enable ministry across the whole of the diocese.

Parish Share is not about our buildings nor our bishops. It funds the lion’s share of the cost of our parish clergy as they serve in our parishes. The remainder comes through national Church funding and support shared across the Church of England, enabling ministry to flourish in places that could not otherwise sustain it.

Parish Share is a practical expression of our commitment as Anglicans to one another.  It is a mutual sharing of our financial resources to ensure that ministry can flourish in every community, regardless of local circumstances or resources.  Without Parish Share, we would not be able to sustain the mission and ministry of many parishes in our Diocese.

Thank you to every parish who contributes your Share. Your generosity enables clergy to serve communities across our Diocese.

Understanding Parish Share

Why Are We Reviewing Parish Share?

The current Parish Share system has served the Diocese well for many years. However, feedback from parishes highlighted a desire for a system that is simpler, more transparent and easier to understand.

For every pound of parish share contributed:

Over the last two years a diverse group of lay and ordained people from across the diocese have met to listen carefully to parishes, deaneries and diocesan bodies. Through surveys, conversations and feedback from Diocesan Synod, a set of key principles emerged to guide the review.

These principles include:

  • Fairness and transparency
  • Simplicity and clarity
  • Support for ministry in areas of deprivation
  • Long-term sustainability
  • Stability for parish planning and budgeting
  • Continuing our commitment to mutual support across the Diocese

What’s Changing?

The proposed new Parish Share arrangements are designed to create a more consistent and transparent approach across the Diocese. These seek to reflect the priorities and concerns raised through the consultation process.

The proposed changes are intended to make Parish Share easier to understand whilst preserving our long-standing commitment to mutual support across the Diocese.

Key features include:

  • A transparent formula reflecting a parish’s capacity to contribute – Under the proposed arrangements, Parish Share will be calculated using information about a parish’s income, worshipping community size and measures of deprivation. Together, these elements create a single diocesan-wide approach designed to be transparent, proportionate and sustainable, while reflecting our commitment to mutual support.

  • Targeted support where it is most needed – The new arrangements continue the Diocese’s commitment to supporting ministry in lower-income communities through dedicated funding that is more transparent and easier to understand through the Lower Income Communities Fund (LINC)

  • A phased introduction – Any changes will be phased in over a three-year period, helping parishes plan ahead and avoid sudden changes to their Parish Share request.

What Remains the Same?

Parish Share remains a shared commitment to funding ministry and mission across the whole of the Diocese of Liverpool.

The aim is unchanged:

  • Every parish continues to play its part according to its circumstances and resources.
  • Support clergy and lay ministry to sustain a worshipping presence in every community.

Your Parish Share Assessments

We have published the tables to show deanery share assessments and parish/church contributions to each deanery’s share assessments. Note the deanery summaries follow the list of parish assessments. 2027 assessments will be shortly available after Diocesan Synod in early November.

Deanery Parish Share Assessment for 2026

The Diocesan Synod approved a budget for 2026 which included a Parish Share increase of up to 2.5% for 2026.  However, the proposals for Parish Share are to:

  • Sustain deanery clergy allocations at 2025 levels unless deaneries tell us they want to reduce (or increase) clergy numbers
  • Increase Parish Share by 2% on the 2025 request.

Deanery Mission and Growth Funds (DMGF) were taken out of the 2025 budget as a key means of reducing the headline level of Parish Share. However, it is important to note 2 things:

  • Any DMGF still held by deaneries at the end of 2025 will be available to you for investment in mission and growth.
  • If deaneries want to continue to collect DMGF via Parish Share in 2026 they are, of course, still welcome to do so. You simply need to inform us of the additional amount of Parish Share you want to collect to enable this.

Parish Share – Mission Giving

Parish Share does not pay for the work of St James’ House services, apart from a small contribution to safeguarding. Each parish is allocated a contribution by their deanery towards a deanery’s total Deanery Parish Share. Only through Parish Share can we guarantee a Christian presence in all communities in our Diocese so that we can see a bigger church to make a bigger difference.

For Parish Share queries:

Call 0151 705 2180 or email
Gordon Fath | Matt Elliott | Sarah Smith