Every year, two meetings have to take place not later than 31 May: The Annual Meeting of Parishioners and the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM). They normally take place one after the other on the same occasion.
The Annual Meeting of Parishioners
This is a joint meeting of all those whose names are on the church electoral roll of the parish and those who are resident in the parish (and whose names appear on the local government register of electors). Its purpose is to elect Churchwardens.
The Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM)
This is a meeting for all lay people whose names are on the church Electoral Roll. Certain clergy are also entitled to attend and take part. It has a number of purposes, as follows:
- To receive the report on changes to the Electoral Roll (or the new Electoral Roll)
- To receive an Annual Report on the proceedings of the PCC and the activities of the parish generally during the previous calendar year
- To receive the financial statements of the PCC for the year ending 31 December of the previous calendar year
- To receive a report on the ‘fabric, goods and ornaments’ of the church or churches of the parish (The ‘Fabric Report’)
- To receive a report on the proceedings of the deanery synod
- To elect every third year parochial representatives of the laity to the deanery synod
- To elect parochial representatives of the laity to the PCC (normally to serve for 3 years, but this can be varied to 1 year by decision of the APCM)
- To receive a brief report from the Safeguarding Co-ordinator on the implementation of the Safeguarding Policies
More information
Much of the information discussed and decided at the Annual Meetings needs to be reported back to the diocesan office. For more details, please see the Data Collection page.
Further information on the meeting and its proceedings can be found in the Church Representation Rules.
Template forms for the meeting can be found on the Parish Resources website.