Every year, we support parishes with submitting data to the National Church Research and Statistics department: Statistics for Mission, Finance Statistics, and the Energy Footprint. This data is usually collected and submitted by either churchwardens, PCC secretaries/treasurers, parish administrators or clergy. If you would like to know more about how this data is used, see here.
The Data Services Unit uses your information to provide parish-level information, an interactive Church of England Parish Map (and user guide!) and uses this look at Church Attendance, Parish Finances, Ministry, Cathedral attendance and College chapel attendance.
Data is entered onto the Parish Returns website. Individuals should each have their own log in, if you have not used the system before, please contact Parish Support team to get set up with a log in. The Parish Returns website will allow you to save data and to return later to enter additional data / complete your return. Here is a user guide for support with the system.
Currently the finance stats are at 41% submitted, so 352 churches still to complete and the Energy Footprint tool are at 21%, so 477 churches are still to submit their data.
The deadlines for 2022 data:
Statistics for Mission deadline: Closed (31 March 2023)
Return of Parish Finance deadline: 31 July 2023
Energy Footprint Tool deadline: 31 August 2023
Beelow are copies of the forms which can be useful when gathering your data. If you would struggle with submitting the data online, you can send a completed paper form to the Parish Support team at parishsupport@salisbury.anglican.org or at the Diocesan office. The forms do change slightly each year but will give you a rough guide for the data you need to collect for the following year.
Useful Forms:
Mission Statistics