Financial relationship between the parish and the Diocese of East Anglia
An unusual aspect of the Cathedral parish is that the costs of running the Cathedral estate are shared between the parish and the diocese. This is because our Cathedral is both the ‘Mother Church’ of the diocese as well as being its own parish community day in, day out.
The total running costs for the Cathedral estate tend to be around £600,000 each year. The parish pays for some of these running costs directly (i.e. the ones that specifically relate to parish activities) and also pays a fixed annual amount to the diocese as its own contribution to the remaining costs. This contribution from the parish and income from the Narthex (such as from the café) both help to reduce the amount that the diocese has to fund.
In 2024 the fixed annual amount paid to the diocese was £75,000. One of the reasons for running our stewardship campaign in autumn 2024 was so that the parish would be able to help to pay for a greater share of these running costs in future. As a result of the successful stewardship campaign, which saw regular donations increase by around 75%, the parish’s Finance committee was able to agree an increase in our fixed annual payment to the diocese to £123,000 in 2025. We are extremely grateful to those parishoners who responded positively to the stewardship campaign by increasing their existing regular donation, or by setting up a new regular donation.
Summary of Our Result for 2024
Overall summary
In 2024, the parish received income of £332,712 and had expenditure of £271,898[1]. This meant that the parish recorded a surplus of £60,814.
Comparison to 2023
Sections 4 and 5 provide a breakdown of types of income and expenditure in 2024, with 2023 shown for comparison. As the chart shows, the main reason why income was higher in 2024 was because we received more offertory income, which was a result of the successful stewardship campaign. The main reason why expenditure was higher was because we increased our fixed annual contribution to the diocese from £50k to £75k.
Comparison to budget
Our actual surplus of £60,814 achieved for 2024 was £67,563 more than our budgeted result for 2024, which was for a deficit of £6,749. The main reason for the higher surplus was because offertory donations were more than we had budgeted, while some of our lines of expenditure, such as the diocesan levies, were lower than we had originally forecast when setting the budget in December 2023.
[1] These figures are based on our unrestricted income and unrestricted expenditure.
Summary of Parish Funds as at 31st December 2024
A summary of the parish’s funds as at 31st December 2024 is given below:
| £ | ||
| Cash (held in bank accounts or with the Diocese) | 229,042 | |
| Other assets & liabilities | (8,556) | |
| Total funds | 220,486 | |
Represented by:
| £ | ||
| Restricted funds | 129,522 | |
| Unrestricted funds | 90,964 | |
| Total funds | 220,486 | |
The majority of funds we held at the end of December 2024 were for restricted purposes. The main category of restricted funds is our share of funds donated by parishioners in previous years to the diocese’s Alive in Faith project. We will use these funds for nominated parish activities in the coming years.
Income
The table below breaks down our income sources for 2024 and compares the amounts to 2023.
Expenditure
The table below breaks down our expenditure sources for 2024 and compares the amounts to 2023.
Chair of the Finance Committee
August 2025