Parish Accounts 2009 Below you will find the links to the Parish Accounts for both 2008 and 2009. These have been produced in our normal way. An explanation of the format of the reports is shown in the section below headed ‘Parish Accounts – Report Structure’. Parish income benefitted from the new method of claiming Gift Aid tax relief which allows us to claim monthly rather than annually. This increased income by £5,000 last year – a ‘one off’ benefit. Overall, income exceeded expenditure by £15,609 and the second loan repayment instalment was made. During 2009, work continued on the repair and refurbishment of the Parish buildings. In the Hall, replacement UPVC windows were installed to remove the rotten wooden frames and to provide improved thermal efficiency and savings in future decoration costs – many Hall users have already noted how much warmer the Halls are now! The oven has been replaced and the parquet floor was sanded and resealed. Finally, Cath Wellbelove led a working party to redecorate both Halls – a good job done well – thanks to Cath and all who helped. Around the Church, the covered walkway was repaired, a new sign was installed in the forecourt, (thanks to Mike O’Brien), and the fibreglass domes on the roof lights in the Sacristy were replaced with glass. Finally, we replaced the windows in the Presbytery with UPVC frames – sincere thanks to John Knecht for his support in both our window replacement projects this year. A record of the maintenance and improvement jobs completed in the past three years and the list of outstanding jobs are recorded in the ‘Planned Works’ section of the website. The improvements over the past years have only been made possible through the kind loan received from a parishioner and the generosity of the parish. View/print the 2009 Parish Accounts (PDF format, 425kb) View/print the 2009 Third Party and Restricted Fund Collections Statement (PDF format, 135kb) View/print the 2008 Parish Accounts (PDF format, 214kb) View/print the 2008 Restricted Funds Statement (PDF format, 122kb) View/print the 2008 Third Party Funds Statement (PDF format, 279kb) Click here to download a free copy of Adobe PDF Reader

Parish Accounts - Report Structure There are 2 pages in the Parish Accounts Presentation, the first providing a Profit & Loss style account for the year combined with a Balance Sheet. The second page provides a year-on-year Income and Expenditure comparison with a commentary on the major changes. When Parishioners donate money for a specific purpose within the Parish, (Church flowers, the development fund etc), this is held in a separate 'Fund' and can only be used for the designated purpose. These are described as 'Restricted Funds' and income and expenditure for these is shown in a separate report. When money is donated to an entity outside the Diocese, (i.e. CAFOD), the money is not treated as part of the Parish’s income but is reserved and paid out to them as soon as possible. These sums are reported in the Third Party Funds Statement. Because the Diocese is a charity, the Diocesan accounts have to comply with the Statement of Recommended Practice, (SORP 2000), put together by the Charity Commissioners. To support this, all our Parish reporting is aligned with the Diocesan standards so that our accounts can be amalgamated into the Diocesan report. The processes and standards are set out in the Parish Administration Manual which can be accessed from the link below. When tax payers make donations to a Charity, the Charity is able to reclaim the tax paid on the donation under the Gift Aid scheme, a very valuable source of additional income which normally gives us an extra £10,000 per year. The Gift Aid link provides overall details on how the scheme works and the Parish’s Gift Aid Co-ordinator is Ian Dallas. He will be happy to answer any questions and sign you up to the scheme which makes your donations worth more to the Parish. All Gift Aid details are confidential and the Parish has no access to your personal data concerning income or tax arrangements.

Parish Administration

Parish Administration Manual

Legacies – a lasting memorial to support the Church

When you make or change your Will, you will obviously be thinking about your family and friends. But you could also make a gift to the Church. For example, you might decide to remember the parish in your Will and here are just a couple of examples of legacies that have been given to parishes in this Diocese:

• St. Joseph's Parish, Brighton – Legacy used to repair external fabric of this listed church.
• St. Charles' Parish Worthing – Legacy used to refurbish and improve the parish hall.

Alternatively, you could decide that you want to provide funds to support priests in their old age or through an illness or the training of new priests, or just generally to help the Diocese.

It's up to you to decide how you want to support the Church. The Diocese has provided detailed guidance and this can be found in the link below.

View/print the Guidance on Bequests and Legacies on the Diocese web site (PDF format, 25kb)

How Helping The Church Can Help You

If you are single, the Government will take 40% in tax on everything over the Inheritance Tax threshold and that may well affect you if you own property. But everything that you give to the Church as a charity will be tax free, so you can use a legacy to reduce the amount of tax that will be paid.