The Legal Officers (Annual Fees) (No. 2) Order 2025

In accordance with section 86(11) of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Care of Churches Measure 2018¹, this Order has been laid before, and approved by, the General Synod.

The Fees Advisory Commission, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 86(3) of that Measure, makes the following Order.

1. Citation, commencement and interpretation (1) This Order may be cited as the Legal Officers (Annual Fees) (No. 2) Order 2025. (2) This Order comes into force on 1st January 2026. (3) In this Order— “diocesan board of finance”, in relation to a diocese, means the board of that name constituted under the Diocesan Boards of Finance Measure 1925², and “the Measure” means the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and Care of Churches Measure 2018.

2. Annual fees Schedule 1 sets out the annual fees payable— (a) to diocesan registrars in respect of the duties of their office specified in Schedule 2, and (b) to provincial registrars in respect of the duties of their office, except the duties and professional services specified in Part B of Table 2 in Schedule 1.

3. Payment of fees (1) The fees set out in the second column of Table 1 of Schedule 1 are to be paid by the diocesan board of finance. (2) The fees set out in the third column of Table 1 and in Table 2 of Schedule 1 are to be paid by the diocesan bishop or archbishop³.

4. Revocation The Legal Officers (Annual Fees) Order 2025⁴ is revoked.

5. Duties of the diocesan registrar A diocesan registrar is not entitled to receive any additional remuneration for the duties specified in Schedule 2 except as provided in article 6.

6. Supplementary annual fee (1) Subject to paragraph (2), nothing in this Order precludes a diocesan board of finance from agreeing to pay any sum to a diocesan registrar by way of annual fee or retainer which is additional to the annual fee payable under Table 1 of Schedule 1. (2) Any such agreement must— (a) be in writing, (b) be expressed to be an agreement made in accordance with this article, and (c) state the period for which it is to run, or, if no such period is stated, remain binding until determined by not less than three months’ notice on either side.

7. Travel, subsistence and accommodation A fee specified in Schedule 1 is to be increased by a sum for reasonable expenses of travel, subsistence and accommodation.

8. Value Added Tax Where Value Added Tax is chargeable in respect of the provision of any service for which a fee is prescribed in this Order (including any fee specified in paragraph 4 of Schedule 2), the amount of Value Added Tax chargeable is payable in addition to that fee.

Schedule 1 Fees payable under this Order Table 1 Annual fees payable to diocesan registrars (Table detailing fees for each diocese) Table 2 Annual fees payable to provincial registrars Part A Fees payable (Table detailing fees for Canterbury and York provinces) Part B Duties and professional services not falling within the scope of the annual fee

1. (1) Duties and professional services in connection with the matters mentioned in sub-paragraph (2) do not fall within the scope of the annual fee payable to provincial registrars. (2) The matters referred to in sub-paragraph (1) are advice or other work in connection with disciplinary proceedings against a clerk in holy orders which have been instituted under section 10 of the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003⁵ or in respect of any disciplinary matters arising under or in relation to that Measure including under sections 30 and 31.

Schedule 2 The scope of the annual fee Professional services to be provided by the diocesan registrar (Detailed list of services) Restrictions on the provisions of paragraph 1 (Restrictions on services) Advice or assistance given to the diocesan bishop, suffragan bishops or archdeacons (Clarification on advice given to Bishops) Work not falling within the scope of the annual fee (List of work not covered by annual fee)

1. (1) For the avoidance of doubt work in connection with the following matters does not fall within the scope of the annual fee but a fee calculated in accordance with the Solicitors’ (Non-Contentious Business) Remuneration Order 2009 is payable— (a) conveyancing and drafting of documents other than those referred to in paragraph 1(l) and (m); (b) matters relating to individual diocesan, parochial or educational trusts or to individual pieces of diocesan glebe property; (c) litigation; (d) acting as secretary to the vacancy in see committee constituted under the Vacancy in See Committees Regulation 2024¹⁶ on a vacancy in the see of the diocesan bishopric; (e) deposition or deprivation consequent upon proceedings in secular courts, including the following— (i) service of notice on a priest or deacon of intention to depose him or her from holy orders under rule 49(1) of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction (Discipline) Rules 1964¹⁷; (ii) carrying out of a duty or exercising of a discretion following proceedings referred to in section 55 of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963; (f) advice or other work in connection with proceedings against a clerk in holy orders under the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963 in respect of an ecclesiastical offence which have been instituted under that Measure or are under consideration or in connection with an allegation of such an offence which is under investigation with the knowledge and approval of the bishop (excluding advice and other work for which a fee is payable under the Ecclesiastical Judges, Legal Officers and Others (Fees) Order for the time being in force made under section 86 of the Measure); (g) advice or other work in connection with disciplinary proceedings against a clerk in holy orders which have been instituted under section 10 of the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003¹⁸ or in respect of any disciplinary matters arising under or in relation to that Measure including under sections 30 and 31; (h) advice or other work in connection with the revocation by reason of misconduct of a licence granted by the bishop to a deaconess or lay worker or reader to minister in the diocese, or in connection with a revocation of such a licence which is under consideration or with an allegation of misconduct by such a person which might lead to such a revocation and which is under investigation with the knowledge and approval of the bishop; (i) advice to the diocesan bishop or other work carried out at his request in connection with proceedings or possible future proceedings under the Incumbents (Vacation of Benefices) Measures 1977 and 1993¹⁹ in a case where notice has been given to the bishop under section 1A(1A) of the Incumbents (Vacation of Benefices) Measure 1977 or the giving of such notice is under consideration; (j) pronouncing of censure under section 31 of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963 with the consent of the accused; (k) work undertaken on behalf of a person who is not an official in the diocese or on behalf of a body which is not a diocesan board or council in connection with the following matters— (i) consecration or licensing of a public cemetery, a private burial ground or a private chapel; (ii) licensing the chapel of an extra-parochial place for a marriage of persons living or residing in that place; (iii) notification under section 2 of the Benefices (Transfer of Rights of Patronage) Measure 1930 (in relation to a guild church in the City of London); (l) removal of the legal effects of consecration under section 92 of the Measure; (m) work carried out in relation to the register of patrons under Part 1 of the 1986 Measure where a fee calculated in accordance with the Solicitors’ (Non-Contentious Business) Remuneration Order 2009 is payable under the Ecclesiastical Judges, Legal Officers and Others (Fees) Order for the time being in force made under section 86 of the Measure; (n) acting as Chapter clerk (whether or not the diocesan registrar holds the office of Chapter clerk) and in particular doing the following work, namely work in connection with the following matters— (i) installation to a deanery; (ii) installation to a canonry or prebend (whether residentiary or honorary) or to an archdeaconry; (iii) admission to a minor canonry; (o) attendance at and work in connection with any visitation by the diocesan bishop of the cathedral church of the diocese and in connection with any action taken or proposed to be taken by the diocesan bishop under the Care of Cathedrals Measure 2011²⁰; (p) advice or other work in connection with an inquiry into the capability of a clerk in holy orders instituted under regulation 31, or a grievance brought by a clerk in holy orders under regulation 32, of the Ecclesiastical Offices (Terms of Service) Regulations 2009²¹; (q) advice or other work in connection with the exercise of its powers by a regulatory body; (r) advice or other work in connection with an allegation falling within the scope of guidance given by the House of Bishops on the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults, or in connection with a risk assessment conducted under such guidance. (2) In the case of the matters referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(e) to (j), the fee is payable by the bishop. (3) In the case of the matters referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(k)(iii), the fee is to be paid in such proportions as may be agreed between the transferor and the transferee and, in the absence of such agreement, the fee is to be paid by the transferee. (4) In the case of matters referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(n), the fees are payable out of cathedral revenues. Disbursements
2. If any disbursements other than expenses specified in article 7 of this Order are incurred in the course of providing any of the professional services in paragraph 1 of this Schedule the diocesan registrar is entitled to charge for them separately.

EXPLANATORY NOTE (This note is not part of the Order) This Order prescribes the annual fees payable to diocesan registrars in 2026 for the professional services specified in Schedule 2 to the Order. The Order also fixes annual fees for 2026 for the provincial registrars. The Order will have effect from 1st January 2026.