WORCESTER DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE LIMITED

Registered charity 247778 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

MEETING THE COSTS OF CLERGY STIPENDS, PENSIONS CONTRIBUTIONS, HOUSING, TRAINING TOGETHER WITH DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION AND SUPPORT FOR MISSION AND MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN THE DIOCESE OF WORCESTER.

Causes: Religious Activities · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£10.6m

Latest spending

£9.3m

Registered

1966

Accounts read

FY2024

Financial health, per its FY2024 accounts

The accounts state that the charity achieved a breakeven operational result for the year, supported by transfers from endowment funds. Free unrestricted reserves were held at £4.7 million, providing approximately 8 months of operational expenditure, which is in excess of the stated policy target of 4.5 months. The charity maintains adequate resources to continue its activities with no material uncertainties identified.

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

What the accounts disclose

Highest-paid employee band: above £60,000 — below the median for charities its size (£130k)

“There are three employees with emoluments above £60,000 per annum (2023: three employees).”

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Employees paid over £60,000: 3

“There are three employees with emoluments above £60,000 per annum (2023: three employees).”

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Largest income source: Ministry Share (30% of income)

“The principal funding source was from Ministry Share which represents 29.6% (2023 27.9%) of total incoming resources.”

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Reserves policy: 4.5 months’ expenditure (held: £4.7m)

“It is the Board’s policy to maintain the year end general unrestricted reserves position, excluding tangible fixed assets, at a level of 4.5 months’ expenditure.”

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Crowe U.K. LLP. Discloses 6 of 6 completeness components.

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Sam Setchell — Director of Communications (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.

Property (HM Land Registry)

174 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (170 freehold); recorded price paid £11.3m. 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

£10.6m

Total spending

£9.3m

Cost of raising funds

£142k

Reserves (reported)

£4.7m

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~6.0 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 (66% 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: 1.3% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.8%) (benchmarks).

Register events

Received assets from another charity (19/01/2026) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

Canon Hugh Alan Richards · trustee of 1 other charity
David Michael Wightman · trustee of 1 other charity
ERIC ALLEN WILES · trustee of 2 other charities
Michael Douglas Hunter · trustee of 2 other charities
Professor Judith Lynn Nichol
ROBIN CHRISTOPHER LUNN
Rev Mark Badger · trustee of 7 other charities
Rev Timothy John Williams · trustee of 2 other charities
Sarah Jayne Hewitt · trustee of 1 other charity
Sarah Louise Roberts-Malpass
THE VEN NICOLA JANE GROARKE · trustee of 3 other charities
Tafadzwa Harriet Terera · trustee of 2 other charities
The Revd Canon Diane Marie Cooksey
The Revd Dr Richard Johnson
The Rt Revd Hugh Edmund Nelson · trustee of 3 other charities
The Rt Revd Martin Charles William Gorick · trustee of 3 other charities
The Very Revd Dr Stephen Michael Edwards · trustee of 3 other charities
Wadham St John Downing

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

Operates in: Dudley · Gloucestershire · Herefordshire · Sandwell · Worcestershire

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/12/2024	£10.6m	£9.3m
31/12/2023	£10.1m	£10.0m
31/12/2022	£9.2m	£8.8m
31/12/2021	£8.2m	£8.8m
31/12/2020	£8.9m	£8.4m

Common questions

Is WORCESTER DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE LIMITED financially healthy?

Per its FY2024 accounts: The accounts state that the charity achieved a breakeven operational result for the year, supported by transfers from endowment funds. Free unrestricted reserves were held at £4.7 million, providing approximately 8 months of operational expenditure, which is in excess of the stated policy target of 4.5 months. The charity maintains adequate resources to continue its activities with no material uncertainties identified. Its FY2024 accounts were audited by Crowe U.K. LLP.

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

Per its FY2024 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the above £60,000 band, and 3 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
UK government	01/04/2023	£444k	School Condition Allocation - Voluntary Aided Sector Recipients
UK government	01/04/2022	£444k	School Condition Allocation - Voluntary Aided Sector Recipients
UK government	01/04/2021	£487k	School Condition Allocation - Voluntary Aided Sector Recipients
UK government	01/04/2020	£679k	School Condition Allocation - Voluntary Aided Sector Recipients
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	31/08/2016	£5k	"Working with lime based building materials"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	27/11/2009	£29k	"St. Paul War Memorial"
The National Lottery Community Fund	03/07/2009	£5k	A gathering point for the whole community

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
THE ARCHBISHOPS' COUNCIL	1	£21.2m
THE HOME OF DEVENISH	1	£135k
TOGETHER FOR CHANGE COVENTRY AND WARWICKSHIRE	1	£30k
MRS R P TINDALL'S CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£18k
SIR JOHN PRIESTMAN CHARITY TRUST	1	£9k
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST PETER WEST HARROW	1	£2k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF HORSHAM DIOCESE OF CHICHESTER.

THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF HORSHAM DIOCESE OF CHICHESTER income £838k
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF GRAYS NORTH AND STIFFORD IN THE DIOCESE OF CHELMSFORD income £146k
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND PENSIONS BOARD income £42.0m
THE CHESTER DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE income £15.0m
THE COVENTRY DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE LTD income £11.0m
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST DUNSTAN, MONKS RISBOROUGH income £122k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
WORCESTER DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE LIMITED	£10.6m	above £60,000	3	above	—	no doubt
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF HORSHAM DIOCESE OF CHICHESTER FY2025	£838k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF GRAYS NORTH AND STIFFORD IN THE DIOCESE OF CHELMSFORD FY2025	£146k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND PENSIONS BOARD FY2025	£42.0m	£276,000	—	unclear	—	no doubt
THE CHESTER DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE FY2024	£15.0m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
THE COVENTRY DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE LTD FY2024	£11.0m	—	—	below	—	no doubt

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