Fees for weddings and funerals are set by the Archbishops' Council, usually with revised levels from January each year. For more detailed information, please see the Church of England Parochial Fees online guidance, which includes an informative FAQs section.
If you have queries that are not answered by the guidance or the FAQs section, please contact your Archdeacon or the diocesan Finance Department. If as treasurer or administrator you are unsure of the type of service to record on the form, please discuss this with the minister who conducted the service.
Diocesan parochial fee returns
Please note that the fee returns procedure requires the Parochial Fees Return Form to be submitted quarterly, together with the corresponding payment. For reporting purposes at parish level, which can inform deanery parish share allocations, please complete a separate form for each parish, even if the payment is sent jointly as a benefice or team.
Fee return forms are available in both Excel or pdf format and can be downloaded below.
If there are no fees due for a quarter, please submit a nil return.
Please also ensure that your Parochial Fee Account number is clearly stated on your fee return form and payment so that your fees can be correctly allocated (see following link to reference your Fee Account Number). List of Fee Account Numbers.
Forms may be submitted electronically to our finance department at finance@oxford.anglican.org and payment made by electronic bank transfer (bank details can be found at the bottom of the Parochial Fees Return Form).
Alternatively, please send paper returns and cheques to our address, as follows: Oxford Diocesan Board of Finance, Church House Oxford, Langford Locks, Kidlington, OX5 1GF.
Please send returns for the previous financial year by 31 January to enable these to be included in our annual accounts.
2024
Rates
Forms to submit to the diocese for services taking place in 2024
Parochial fees for retired clergy, SSMs and LLMs 2024
Retired Clergy with PTO, SSMs and LLMs may claim 2/3rds of the ODBF portion of a parochial fee. Should they wish to do so, they should notify the PCC where the service is taken and the PCC should then arrange immediate payment of the applicable fee directly to the minister, in accordance with the table of fees below. The service should be included in the usual quarterly PCC Parochial Fees return to ODBF.
If a funeral service is taken at a crematorium and the minister is paid the fee directly by the Funeral Director, it is the responsibility of the minister to pay ODBF 1/3rd of the fee that they receive, in accordance with the table of fees below. A quarterly return of fees to ODBF is required.
- 2024 Retired Clergy, SSMs and LLMs Parochial Fees Table
- 2024 Retired Clergy Parochial Fees Return Form
- 2024 SSMs and LLMs Parochial Fees Return Form
2023
Rates for January and February 2023
- 2023 Parochial Fees Table - January and February only
Forms to submit to the diocese for services taking place in January and February 2023
Rates from 1st March 2023
Please note that following the agreement of the General Synod on 8 February 2023, a revised Fees Order was placed before Parliament on 28 February in order for the reduced parochial fees in the following tables to apply for occasional offices taking place on and after 1 March 2023.
- 2023 Parochial Fees Table from 1st March 2023
- 2023 Parochial Fees Table from 1st March 2023 - Summary
Forms to submit to the diocese for services taking place from 1st March 2023
If it is easier administratively, you may submit a return at end of June 2023 to cover the period 1st March to 30th June 2023.
- 2023 Parochial Fees Return Form xls from 1st March 2023
- 2023 Parochial Fees Return Form pdf from 1st March 2023
Parochial fees for retired clergy, SSMs and LLMs 2023
From 1st January 2023 SSMs and LLMs may claim 2/3rds of the ODBF fee. Should they wish to do so, they should notify the PCC where the service is taken and the PCC should then arrange immediate payment of the applicable fee directly to the minister, in accordance with the table of fees below. The service should be included in the usual PCC Parochial Fees return to ODBF.
If an SSM or LLM takes a funeral service at a crematorium and there is no fee payable to a PCC, it is the responsibility of the SSM/LLM to pay ODBF 1/3rd of the fee that they receive, in accordance with the table of fees below. A quarterly return of fees to ODBF is required, with the payment accompanied by the completion of the '2023 SSMs and LLMs Parochial Fees Return Form' below.
- 2023 Retired Clergy, SSMs and LLMs Parochial Fees Table - January and February only
- 2023 Retired Clergy, SSMs and LLMs Parochial Fees Table from 1st March
- 2023 Retired Clergy Parochial Fees Return Form
- 2023 SSMs and LLMs Parochial Fees Return Form
Service in Vacancy forms and guidelines
Please send SIV forms and related enquiries to the diocesan Stipends Administrator.
- 2024 Service in Vacancy fees guidelines
- 2024 Service in Vacancy claim form (Excel)
- 2023 Service in Vacancy fees guidelines
- 2023 Service in Vacancy form (Excel)
Please note that the Service in Vacancy fee is £43.00 in 2023 and £45.00 in 2024 (NB: SIV is payable only to Retired Clergy with Permission to Officiate - see above Guidelines).