The national church has made £15 million available to dioceses as a contribution towards helping parishes with their energy costs. The Diocese of Chester has now received a share of this and will be distributing the money among our parishes. This support is in addition to the £3m already made available for ministry hardship grants earlier this year.
The primary purpose of this funding is for dioceses to make grants to Parochial Church Councils to help them meet their higher energy bills.
Under the terms of the £15m grant there was some flexibility for dioceses to appropriate some of their grant for extra ministry hardship funding or to support chaplains. The Diocese of Chester has taken the decision to use 100% of our grant allocation, £299,000, for the sole purpose of helping parishes with their energy costs. Each and every parish will therefore receive a payment, ranging from £714 to £4,140, based on socioeconomic needs.
Parishes that pay their parish share by direct debit will receive their payment directly into their bank accounts within the next week, while others will be contacted by the Finance Department at Church House to arrange payment by other means.