THE BLACKBURN DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE LIMITED

Registered charity 247647 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

To promote, facilitate and assist the work and purposes of the Church of England by the advancement of the Christian faith in the Diocese of Blackburn and elsewhere to create healthy churches transforming communities as part of our Vision 2026 by raising and applying funds for the Church's work.

Causes: Religious Activities · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£15.9m

Latest spending

£14.7m

Registered

1966

Accounts read

FY2024

Financial health, per its FY2024 accounts

The accounts state that the charity achieved an operational surplus of £0.835m on unrestricted funds, with total group income decreasing slightly to £15.86m. Free reserves stood at £8.1m, which is in excess of the stated policy target of £4.4m, providing a buffer against income risks such as Parish Share receipts.

Automated summary of the FY2024 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Highest-paid employee band: £70,001 - £80,000 — below the median for charities its size (£130k)

“There were 2 employees whose salary was in excess of £60,000 – one in the band £60,000 to £70,000 and one in the band £70,000 to £80,000” — page 41

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Employees paid over £60,000: 2

“There were 2 employees whose salary was in excess of £60,000” — page 41

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Reserves policy: £4.4m (held: £8.1m)

“The level of free reserves required for this policy is £4.4m.” — page 13

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Goods and services from Blackburn Cathedral

“During the year, the Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Ltd bought goods and services from Blackburn Cathedral amounting to £40,323 (2023 £17,707).” — page 54

“Grants made to Emmanuel Theological College from the BDBF during the year amounted to £30,000 (2023 £10,000). During the year, the BDBF paid £18,284 to ETC for training of readers and ordinands (2023 £133,246).” — page 54

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Grants and payments to Emmanuel Theological College

“During the year, the Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Ltd bought goods and services from Blackburn Cathedral amounting to £40,323 (2023 £17,707).” — page 54

“Grants made to Emmanuel Theological College from the BDBF during the year amounted to £30,000 (2023 £10,000). During the year, the BDBF paid £18,284 to ETC for training of readers and ordinands (2023 £133,246).” — page 54

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Recharges from Cidari Education Ltd

“During the year, the Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Ltd bought goods and services from Blackburn Cathedral amounting to £40,323 (2023 £17,707).” — page 54

“Grants made to Emmanuel Theological College from the BDBF during the year amounted to £30,000 (2023 £10,000). During the year, the BDBF paid £18,284 to ETC for training of readers and ordinands (2023 £133,246).” — page 54

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by BHP LLP. Discloses 6 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

Top pay band moved from £70,000 - £80,000 (FY2023) to £70,001 - £80,000 (FY2024).

Comparing this charity’s FY2023 and FY2024 accounts as analysed by this site.

Corporate structure

Registered company of the charity Companies House 00225457

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Bishop Philip North — Bishop of Blackburn (source)
Rev. Steve Haskett — Director of Mission (source)
Lisa Moncur — Registrar (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

HOWARD, Paul David, The Rev'D — director, appointed 18/07/2026on trustee list
ATKINSON, Jane Louise, The Ven — director, appointed 23/11/2025on trustee list
ACOMB, Simon — director, appointed 12/10/2025on trustee list
GREEN, Fleur Estelle, Revd Canon — director, appointed 30/03/2025on trustee list
SHIHADAH-DAVIDSON, Rana — director, appointed 02/03/2025on trustee list
WALKER, Wendy Ann — director, appointed 01/01/2025on trustee list
COWELL, John Philip — director, appointed 01/01/2025on trustee list
CRAVEN, David Alex, The Revd — director, appointed 01/01/2025on trustee list
GASCOIGNE, David Paul — director, appointed 01/01/2025on trustee list
HALDANE, Ruth Kathleen — director, appointed 01/01/2025on trustee list
LOCKWOOD, Hannah Bethany — director, appointed 01/01/2025on trustee list
SMITH, Joanne Sarah — director, appointed 01/01/2025on trustee list
KENNEDY, Joseph, The Rt Revd Dr — director, appointed 19/07/2024on trustee list
PORTER, Damian Michael, Revd — director, appointed 27/09/2023not on trustee list
HORSFALL, Andrew Stuart, Canon — director, appointed 01/01/2022on trustee list
RONSON, Paul John — director, appointed 01/01/2022on trustee list
PICKEN, David Anthony, The Venerable — director, appointed 04/02/2020on trustee list
GARDNER, Melvyn — director, appointed 01/01/2019on trustee list
DUFF, Jillian Louise Calland, Rt Revd Dr — director, appointed 29/06/2018on trustee list
HOWELL-JONES, Peter, The Very Reverend — director, appointed 25/03/2017on trustee list

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

207 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (192 freehold); recorded price paid £10.5m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2024)

Total income

£15.9m

Total spending

£14.7m

Cost of raising funds

£322k

Reserves (reported)

£8.1m

Employees

71

Reported reserves equal ~6.6 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (83% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 2.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.8%) (benchmarks).

Register events

Received assets from another charity (06/06/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

Rev Paul David Howardchair
DAVID JOHN WILKINSON · trustee of 2 other charities
Damian Porter Rev'd · trustee of 2 other charities
David Paul Gascoigne
Hannah Lockwood
Jacqueline Mary Stamper · trustee of 3 other charities
John Cowell · trustee of 1 other charity
Melvyn Gardner
Paul Ronson · trustee of 2 other charities
ROBERT JOHN COLLINS
Rana Shihadah-Davidson
Rev David Alex Craven · trustee of 1 other charity
Rev FLEUR ESTELLE GREEN · trustee of 4 other charities
Rev Joanne Sarah Smith · trustee of 2 other charities
Rev Munawar Din · trustee of 1 other charity
Rev PETER ANDREW LILLICRAP
Rev PETER HOWELL-JONES · trustee of 5 other charities
Rt Rev Jillian Louise Calland Duff
Ruth Kathleen Haldane
Simon Acomb · trustee of 1 other charity
The Revd Canon Andrew Stuart Horsfall
The Rt Revd Dr Joseph Kennedy
The Rt Revd Philip John North
The Ven David Anthony Picken
The Ven Jane Louise Atkinson
Wendy Ann Walker

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Lancashire · Wigan

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/12/2024	£15.9m	£14.7m
31/12/2023	£16.3m	£14.8m
31/12/2022	£17.0m	£15.1m
31/12/2021	£13.5m	£12.9m
31/12/2020	£12.9m	£11.6m

Common questions

Is THE BLACKBURN DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE LIMITED financially healthy?

Per its FY2024 accounts: The accounts state that the charity achieved an operational surplus of £0.835m on unrestricted funds, with total group income decreasing slightly to £15.86m. Free reserves stood at £8.1m, which is in excess of the stated policy target of £4.4m, providing a buffer against income risks such as Parish Share receipts. Its FY2024 accounts were audited by BHP LLP.

What does the highest-paid employee of THE BLACKBURN DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE LIMITED earn?

Per its FY2024 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the £70,001 - £80,000 band, and 2 employees earned over £60,000.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
The National Lottery Community Fund	08/07/2004	£23k	Community Rooms Project

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Funder	Similar charities funded	Amount to them
ANNE FRENCH MEMORIAL TRUST	1	£308k
KESWICK HALL CHARITY	1	£100k
NEWCASTLE DIOCESAN SOCIETY	1	£33k
NORFOLK COMMUNITY FOUNDATION	1	£20k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE NORWICH DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE LIMITED.

THE NORWICH DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE LIMITED income £13.4m
THE ELY DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE income £11.1m
THE SALISBURY DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE income £13.9m
THE OXFORD DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE income £28.0m
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST, CHURT AND RUSHMOOR income £128k
MANCHESTER DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE income £14.5m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
THE BLACKBURN DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE LIMITED	£15.9m	£70,001 - £80,000	2	above	—	no doubt
THE NORWICH DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE LIMITED FY2024	£13.4m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
THE ELY DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE FY2024	£11.1m	£180,001 - £190,000	10	unclear	—	no doubt
THE SALISBURY DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE FY2024	£13.9m	—	—	below	—	no doubt
THE OXFORD DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE FY2024	£28.0m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST, CHURT AND RUSHMOOR FY2024	£128k	—	0	above	—	no doubt

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.