(Church Times) Church’s Lowest Income Communities funding ‘not reaching poorest parishes’ Synod hears

A suggestion that a “big stick” be deployed by the Archbishops’ Council to ensure that the Lowest Income Communities funding (LINC) reaches the poor parishes for which it was intended was heard by the General Synod on Tuesday.

Delivering an update on the work of the diocesan finances review, the chair of the Archbishops’ Council’s Finance Committee, Carl Hughes, reported that only two-thirds of LINC funding was reaching parishes in the 25 per cent most deprived areas. This was something that he felt “very strongly about”, he said; and a “light-touch” reporting framework was being proposed for dioceses, to “improve transparency and accountability”.

In the ensuing debate, speakers expressed concern about the statistic and the sufficiency of the proposed approach. The Revd Jonathan Macy (Southwark), who chairs the National Estates Churches Network, suggested that the figure was “absolutely shocking. . . You speak of things that are ‘light touch’, and I get why, but would you consider with that light touch an extra option akin to a big wooden stick to ensure that money actually goes to where it should be going?”

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Only two-thirds of Lowest Income Communities Funding is reaching parishes in the 25% most deprived areas – up from 35% when it was launched in 2017. Synod raised concerns about properly holding dioceses to account after "light touch" reporting was proposed https://t.co/ZzBG07XwLz

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) February 12, 2025