Parish returns

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Each year, parishes are asked to submit information and data to the Church of England nationally. You can do so via:

There are three forms that are required to be submitted on the online system. These are:

Finance return
Statistics for Mission
Energy Footprint

If you require login details or any other assistance regarding the online portal please contact Alison Barker by email.

The Articles of Enquiry, copies of annual accounts, number on your Parish electoral roll and the Finance return need to be submitted by 31 May 2021. This ties in with the deadline of when all parishes should have held their APCMs by.

Summary timeline

Below is a timeline setting out when the various statistical parish returns are expected throughout the year. We hope this helps your planning.

When?	What?
Start of January 2021	Statistics for Mission request sent
1st week of February	Annual return of Parish Finance/Annual Report and Accounts notice sent
3rd week of February	Reminder to complete statistics for mission.
Last week of February	Articles of Enquiry sent
26 February	NEW Deadline for Statistics for Mission
1st week of March	Request Electoral Roll figures (these should be received after the APCM) Liaise with those who have not returned Statistics for Mission
Last week of April	Reminder to complete: Return of Parish Finance form / Energy Footprint Tool / provide Annual Report and Accounts / Electoral Roll Certificate / Articles of Enquiry
May (subject to change)	Church Development Tool sent
31 May	Deadline for Return of Parish Finance form Deadline for Annual Report and Accounts Deadline for Articles of Enquiry
From 1st week of June	Liaise with those who have not submitted returns.
June/July (TBC)	Deadline for Church Development Tool
1 July	Deadline for Electoral Roll
July/August (TBC)	Deadline for Energy Footprint
August	Undertake CMS places audit.

Statistics for Mission

Statistics for Mission 2020 Form | DOCX

User Guide | PDF

Frequently Asked Questions | PDF

The deadline for returning Statistics for Mission via the Online Portal is 26 February 2021.

If you are unable to input data using the online portal and would like assistance please contact Alison Barker by email.

Parish Finance Return

Parish Finance Form | PDF

The deadline for returning the Parish Finance form is 31 May 2021.

Accounts & Annual Reports

Copies of Parish Account and Annual Reports should be provided directly to the diocese, preferably by email, or alternatively by post.

The deadline for returning the Annual Report and Accounts form is 31 May 2021.

Energy Footprint Tool

The Church of England’s General Synod has set new targets for all parts of the church to work to become carbon ‘net zero’ by 2030.

The easy-to-use Energy Footprint Tool will tell your church of what your "carbon footprint" is, based on the energy you use to heat and light your buildings. This tool is now live and is available to all Church of England churches using:

Online Parish Returns System | Weblink

For further information please try the toolkit:

Updated link to come late spring/early summer.

See video below on how to use the toolkit:

For further information please visit:

Environment | Weblink

Dashboards | Parish Spotlights

The Church of England Research and Statistics team publish the results of this data collection in the form of dashboards which can be obtained by contacting the Diocesan Office: 01473 298500 or by emailing statistics@cofesuffolk.org. Further resources and census and deprivation data are available to download from the National Church's Research and Statistic team:

Census data | Weblink