Incumbents

Incumbents

An incumbent will normally be a priest (though may occasionally be a Bishop) who has the cure of souls within a benefice. (A benefice may be a single parish or a group of parishes). The Incumbent will normally be styled as a Rector or as a Vicar, the latter in cases where prior to the Reformation, a corporate body held the office of Rector, and appointed a Vicar to act within the parish on behalf of the Rector.

The appointment of a new incumbent is dealt with in Part II of the Patronage (Benefices) Measure 1986 and the Patronage (Benefices) Rules 1987. The Rules contain the various forms required to be used in the appointment process.

An incumbent will be ‘presented’ to the benefice by its patrons after an appointments process involving representatives from the parishes included in the benefice, the patrons and the Archdeacon and Bishop. Where the patron is the Bishop, the new incumbent will be said to be ‘collated’ to the benefice. Where other patrons are presenting, the incumbent will be said to be ‘instituted’ to the benefice. The service will normally be led by the diocesan or suffragan Bishop and be at one of the churches within the benefice. The incumbent is also inducted (normally by the Archdeacon) into the spiritualities and temporalities of the benefice. The Archdeacon will take the new incumbent by the hand to the altar and pulpit of a church in the benefice, and hand the keys to the building and the parsonage over formally.

An incumbent is said to hold the freehold, although newly appointed incumbents will hold under Common Tenure. When Common Tenure was introduced at the start of 2011, clergy holding office at that time had the option to continue on their existing freehold terms or to elect to switch to Common Tenure. Many remained as they were, but as they retire or move to new offices the number of those remaining on the old ‘freehold’ regime will diminish.

An incumbent does however retain the freehold of the churches and churchyards in his or benefice, and also holds the legal title to the parsonage house of the benefice. These will normally be registered at the Land Registry in the name of ‘The Incumbent for the time being of the Benefice of N in the Diocese of X and the County of Y’. This avoids the need for the name of the office holder to be changed at the Land Registry every time the office holder changes.

An Incumbent is said to be an ecclesiastical ‘corporation sole’, which means that the office continues in being even if there is no incumbent currently appointed. An Incumbent will execute deeds under their hand and seal (as they occupy a corporate office). The same is true of a diocesan Bishop, whose office is also an ecclesiastical ‘corporation sole’.

The incumbent shares with the bishop the exclusive cure of souls within the benefice. Generally, subject to some statutory exceptions, no other cleric may minister in the benefice without the consent of the incumbent.

An incumbent can cease to hold office in a number of ways:

In practice the most common of these will be Retirement on or before 70 or Resignation.

Retirement is automatic at 70 under the  Ecclesiastical Offices (Terms of Service) Regulations 2009, but a Bishop may extend a priest’s licence to minister as a priest in charge annually or for a specified fixed term up to the age of 75 under reg 29A of the Regulations. This will normally be effected by placing an annual endorsement on the rear of the Priest’s licence, or by granting a fixed term licence for a specified period.

Resignation is normally effected by a Deed (see template at the end of this section) although this is not necessary. It may be effected by giving notice of resignation verbally to the Bishop or otherwise in writing to the Bishop, but will become effective only when accepted by the Bishop. A deed of resignation is to be preferred, since it gives certainty and reduces the risk of a change of mind.

Once an incumbent ceases to hold office, the benefice is said to be vacant or ‘in vacancy’. Sometimes this is referred to as an interregnum. Once a benefice is vacant, the patrons may present a new incumbent for institution or collation, but they can only do so once the steps outlined in Part II of the Patronage (Benefices) Measure 1986 have been followed. Some of these steps can be taken before the vacancy starts, where for example a retirement date is known in advance, but the outgoing incumbent and their spouse or partner should not be involved in the selection process for a successor.

The Bishop and/or the Diocesan Mission and Pastoral Committee (“DMPC”) (see Part 2 of the Mission and Pastoral Measure 2011) may wish to undertake some pastoral reorganisation during the vacancy. This is possible whilst a benefice is occupied, but easier during a vacancy. In such a case, when a vacancy arises the Bishop may wish to suspend the right of the patrons to present a new incumbent. This can be done in consultation with the DMPC for a period of up to 5 years. Details of suspensions should be provided to the Diocesan Registry, which should keep a diary of suspensions, including the dates on which suspensions will expire and need to be renewed. The Registry will liaise with the Bishop’s Chaplain or the secretary to the DMPC to remind them of the need to renew suspensions as the end of suspension periods approach.

Income which is benefice property (as opposed to parish property) should be received and accounted for by sequestrators during a vacancy. The sequestrators are the Area or Rural Dean together with the Churchwardens for the time being of the benefice, and any other person whom the Bishop may appoint under section 1 of the Church of England (Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure 1992 . The sequestrators must render an account of benefice income received to the bishop when asked to do so, and pay any income over the Diocesan Board of Finance, since the benefice itself is not a corporate legal entity capable of holding a bank account or funds of its own. In practice, benefice income is usually modest, since glebe property (which used to provide the core income of incumbents prior to 1 April 1978) was transferred to diocesan boards of finance by the Endowments and Glebe Measure 1976.

During a period when a vacant benefice is ‘suspended’, the Bishop may wish to appoint a priest in charge to secure the provision of ministry to the benefice during the vacancy. 

Contact Us
Contact Us
For general enquiries please call +44 (0)808 169 4320 or send a message from our Contact us page.