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Annual Parish Council Meetings

These notes interpret the Church Representation Rules and are provided for guidance, but reference should be made to the Rules as necessary.

The Church Representation Rules state

Rule 6(1): In every parish there shall be held not later than the 30th April in each year the annual parochial church meeting (the “annual meeting”).

Rule 6(2): All lay persons whose names are entered on the roll of the parish shall be entitled to attend the annual meeting and to take part in its proceedings, and no other lay person shall be so entitled.

Rule 7(1): The annual meeting shall be convened by the minister of the parish by a notice in the form set out in section 4 of Appendix I to these rules affixed on or near to the principal door of every church in the parish, and every building licensed for public worship in the parish, for a period including the last two Sundays before the day of the meeting.

Rule 11(9): The result of any election by an annual meeting shall be announced as soon as practicable by the person presiding over the election, and a notice of the result shall in every case be affixed on or near the principal door of every church in the parish and every building licensed for public worship in the parish, and shall bear the date on which the result is declared. The notice shall remain affixed for not less than fourteen days.

Synodical Government Measure 1969 as amended © The Archbishops’ Council 1984–2003

The Churchwardens Measure 2001, which came into force on 1 January 2002, states:

Section 1:

3. The churchwardens of every parish shall be chosen from persons who have been baptised and —

• a. whose names are on the church electoral roll of the parish;
• b. who are actual communicants;
• c. who are twenty-one years of age or upwards; and
• d. who are not disqualified. [Note: download the nomination form below for details of disqualifications]

Section 4:

1. The churchwardens of a parish shall be chosen annually not later than the 30th April in each year.

2. Subject to the provisions of this Measure the churchwardens of a parish shall be elected by a meeting of the parishioners.

3. Candidates for election at the meeting must be nominated and seconded in writing by persons entitled to attend the meeting and each nomination paper must include a statement, signed by the person nominated, to the effect that that person is willing to serve as a churchwarden and is not disqualified.

4. A nomination shall not be valid unless —

• a. the nomination paper is received by the minister of the parish before the commencement of the meeting; and
• b. in the case of a person who is not [normally] qualified, the bishop’s permission was given ... before the nomination paper is received by the minister of the parish.

5. If it appears to the minister of the parish that the election of any particular person nominated might give rise to serious difficulties between the minister and that person in the carrying out of their respective functions the minister may, before the election is conducted, make a statement to the effect that only one churchwarden is to be elected by the meeting. In that event one churchwarden shall be appointed by the minister from among the persons nominated, the name of the person so appointed being announced before the election is conducted, and the other shall then be elected by the meeting.

Section 5:

1. A joint meeting of —

• a. the persons whose names are entered on the church electoral roll of the parish; and
• b. the persons resident in the parish whose names are entered on a register of local government electors by reason of such residence,

shall be deemed to be a meeting of the parishioners for the purposes of this Measure.

© Crown Copyright 2001

The Annual Meeting

It is normal for the Election of Churchwardens and the Annual Parochial Church Meeting to be held at the same time. However, the Statutory Notice for the APCM as laid down in the Rules makes no provision for the Election of Churchwardens, so there have to be two notices. The Statutory Notice as laid down by the Rules is available below; also available are a Notice and a nomination form which satisfy the new Churchwardens Measure. Both Notices have to be displayed for a period of at least fourteen days including the two Sundays before the Meeting.

Note also that the Election of Churchwardens can be attended by people who are not on the Electoral Roll. They can attend and vote, but are not entitled to attend the APCM and they may be excluded from that meeting. By the same token, there is nothing to stop a parish allowing such people to attend the APCM, and this may be pastorally advantageous.

Borough or District Electoral Registration Officers are not permitted to supply a Full [unedited] Register of Electors for the purposes of determining the eligibility of anyone to vote in the Election of Churchwardens. Parishes can purchase the Edited Register, but this is by definition not complete. If there is doubt about the validity of someone’s vote, a suitable procedure could be:

• the minister should object to the conduct of the election by show of hands, and the election should be conducted with ballot papers. Ballot papers must be signed on the back.
• the vote should be taken and ballots counted
• if ballots of doubtful validity will have a material effect on the result of the vote, declaration of the result should be deferred until the eligibility of the voter has been verified. This can be done by inspecting the Full Register which must be made available by the Electoral Registration Officer, usually at the Council Offices or often at main libraries.

From 2002, prospective churchwardens must be members of the electoral roll; in prior years residence in the parish was sufficient. That year marked the start of the six-year qualifying period for terms of office. Unless an annual meeting determines otherwise, churchwardens elected in 2002 must retire in 2008, if they do not do so before then; those who have served continuously from 2002 to 2008 must then have two years “off” and become eligible for the office again in 2010.

Electoral Roll

The electoral roll is a list of names and addresses of every person who can vote in the annual parochial church meeting. A new roll was last created in 2007, and so therefore this year the electoral roll is only to be amended with any new names that have been added or taken off.

Notices of revision should be posted 5-6 weeks before the annual parochial church meeting on or near the main church door, see download, with a copy of the existing roll. This should be displayed for 14 days. Anyone who wishes to join the roll, not existing members, need to fill in an application form and return it to the Electoral Roll Officer The Electoral Roll Officer will then make the appropriate changes and then display the revised roll between 15-28 days before the annual parochial church meeting. The list should remain displayed until the date of the meeting. Changes can be made to names and addresses on the roll at this point but no new names can be added until the completion of the annual parochial church meeting.

Note that from 1 January 2004, no-one over 18 can be elected to the PCC until they have been members of the Roll for six months. This does not apply to young people under the age of 18, who can be elected to the PCC from their 16th birthday.

Electing the Parochial Church Council

Some people are ex-officio members of the PCC:

• The parish priest, and any ordained minister or deaconess or layworker licensed to the parish;
• Any other licensed clergy in a team ministry;
• The churchwardens (and deputy wardens, if permitted);
• Any readers whom the Annual Meeting has appointed to the PCC;
• Members of the Roll who are members of higher synods

Any lay member in the above list can also be a member as an elected lay representative. For example, an existing elected member could become churchwarden in the middle of their term of membership. That member would fill one of the places in the elected membership as well as an ex-officio position. However no person may have more than one vote (except the chairman when a casting vote is needed). A person who is appointed to an ex-officio position may choose to resign their elected membership and have that vacancy filled by someone else, but there is no requirement to do so.