This role has been created to bring good bookkeeping procedures and efficient administration systems to Anglican churches across South Yorkshire and into the East Riding. Your customers will be Church Treasurers, Churchwardens and other office holders who are usually volunteers serving their community and this project will free church leaders to be even more effective locally.

This role will be part of a wider Mission Area Finance & Resources Team working alongside other key specialists working together collaboratively to meet the needs of Parishes and Mission Areas.

This role is externally funded and are initially available until December 2026.

We welcome applications from candidates reflecting our diverse communities and encourage working part time or flexibly including evenings. Candidates will be skilled to equip others and be sympathetic to the mission of the Church of England.

The key purpose of the Operations and Generosity Support role is to support Parochial Church Councils (PCCs) and leadership teams across Mission Areas to develop robust systems of administration and financial management. This will be through a mixture of direct support and development of shared resources that will be universally available throughout the Diocese.

• Supporting local teams to engage with specialist resources and support provided from across the Church House Team. Supporting the delivery of training in small group settings as required (likely Mission Area and Deanery level).
• Provide support to the Operations and Generosity Development Team Lead with parish finance and administration support projects. This will include signposting and hands on activity to promote best practice.
• Development of key resources for finance and administration including development and rollout of practical tools to enable ongoing local management and support PCCs to meet their responsibilities as Trustees.
• Working with a group of churches to identify areas of potential efficiency in administration processes, sharing good practice and potential collaboration.
• Assisting treasurers to budget plan and operate financial controls to help ensure that the PCC understand their financial position and make appropriate decisions.
• Setting up systems and processes to support the preparation of compliant accounts and Parish Finance Returns for charitable entities.
• Development of key resources for general administration (eg governance, safeguarding, estates management, health and safety, GDPR, HR) and practical tools to enable ongoing local management and to support PCCs and wider Mission Area activity. This could involve development of templates and best practice guides and connection with external resources through ACAT membership
• Supporting the preparation of annual accounts (financial statements) and the financial aspect of the Trustees’ Annual Report for presentation to stakeholders. To assist administration systems, support and audit processes where applicable.
• Build and integrate administration systems to support key areas such as Occasional Offices (baptisms, weddings, funerals), buildings repair and maintenance, and graveyard admin.
• Be proactive in learning from and sharing with other Diocese and national teams where good practice is identified and may drive shared efficiencies.

The post-holder must have a strong blend of professional and administrative qualities, particularly the ability to work constructively and communicate clearly with a wide range of stakeholders, including clergy, churchwardens, treasurers and other key leaders and volunteers.

The post-holder will be part of the established Mission Finance Team within the Diocesan Finance team. They will report to the Operations and Generosity Development Team Lead.

See person specification.

The Diocese of Sheffield was founded in 1914 and contains the whole of the city of Sheffield, the Borough of Rotherham and the Borough of Doncaster. In addition, it contains much of the Borough of Barnsley and areas of the East Riding of Yorkshire around Goole, across to the edge of North Lincolnshire. Consequently, we serve almost 1.2 million people across South Yorkshire and adjoining areas.

The Diocese currently has 176 parishes (205 churches and 150 benefices). These parishes are served by 103 stipendiary clergy; around 30 self-supporting ministers and over 400 licensed Readers and other lay ministers. There are twelve deaneries and two archdeaconries in the Diocese. The Diocese contains many contrasts in terms of relative wealth and poverty with very many areas of both urban and rural deprivation. The churches vary very significantly in terms of ecclesial tradition and size.

2020 was tough in lots of ways for our Mission Areas, with many Parish finances taking a serious impact because of Covid-19. Without the National Covid and Furlough grants, Diocesan finances would also have struggled. Our income in 2020 was £9.54m and spend was £9.7m. Whilst we are working with a deficit budget in 2022 we expect to move to a stronger position in subsequent years.

Further information about the Diocese and the area it serves can be found on the Diocesan website at www.sheffield.anglican.org.