In 1963 the Church Commissioners paid for 75% of stipends. Today they fund around 10% of the cost of parish clergy nationally, but in many dioceses and parishes there is no ongoing support. Source: (https://stmarysb.org.uk/Publisher/File.aspx?ID=237877)
Before 1976, the Commissioners were required to make certain payments to assistant curates and clerical and lay assistants engaged in the cure of souls in particular parishes.
The Endowments and Glebe Measure 1976 transferred assets which had previously provided endowment income for individual benefices and their incumbents.
Glebe land which had previously been in the ownership of the incumbents of individual benefices was transferred to the diocesan boards of finance of the dioceses concerned . . . the Commissioners were no longer to make payments direct to particular clergy and lay assistants but were required to pay equal amounts into the income accounts of the relevant diocesan stipends funds. Source: (https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt200405/jtselect/jtecc/55/55.pdf)
The effect of the 1976 measure was to convert benefice glebe into diocesan glebe, making it the investment property of the entire diocese. Source: (https://ecclesiasticallaw.wordpress.com/tag/endowments-and-glebe-measure-1976/).
In 1992 it was revealed that the Church Commissioners had lost £800million through over-commitment of the fund leading to poor investment decisions. (Plender, John: “Unholy Saga of the Church’s Missing Millions”, Financial Times, 11 July 1992.
In 1994 Church Commissioners transferred responsibility for clergy stipends to the parishes
In July 1994, members of the Church of England were told that they would have to rescue its finances after disastrous speculation in the commercial property market was revealed to have cost the church pounds £800m in assets since 1989. Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/chaotic-investments-cost-church-pounds-800m-congregations-asked-to-make-up-for-decade-of-mismanagement-1486533.html
As a result it was decided that the future cost of clergy stipends and pensions would be shared with the wider Church, bringing the Church Commissioners’ financial commitments to a level they can meet. Parishes took over the job, and their parish shares, contributing to diocesan funds, went up. Source: https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN05044/SN05044.pdf
By 2017 the Church Commissioners Fund church income had recovered to its pre-1990s level and by 2022 it had over £10bn, producing an income of $500 (currently £467million) in 2020 Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/07/04/church-england-borrows-money-fund-net-zero-drive
The Commissioners are now responsible only for stipends, housing and office space for the diocesan bishops, archbishops and support staff and for the maintenance of their buildings but they did not take back their responsibility to pay clergy stipends and pensions. Source: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2022-07/5950_CofE_Church%20Commissioners_FINAL%20120522%20%281%29.pdf
Funds are being earmarked for “projects”. Some members believe that talk of diversity, inclusivity and health and safety should be put aside, and focus given instead to what matters – the Church of England’s parish work. Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/10/27/lettersthe-frightening-ease-wales-imposed-arbitrary-restrictions/
An article in the Times (September 2022) refers to “wasteful spending on layer after layer of management, new initiatives, meaningless studies and projects” and to little evidence of the “dramatic transformations promised by documents full of managerial hyperbole”. Source: https://savetheparish.com/2022/09/04/church-needs-to-do-more-to-support-rural-parishes-the-times)
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The Emerging Church 