Can a PCC charge extra fees for additional expenses for weddings and funerals?
The fees prescribed by the Parochial Fees Order. These fees are made by General Synod and approved in Parliament. A PCC has never had a power to set “fees” of its own. All parishioners (irrespective of whether they attend the church or not) have certain common law rights ie a right to be married in the parish church and to be buried in the churchyard. It is not legally open to a PCC or an incumbent to require or impose an additional fee for occasional offices over and above those prescribed by the Order. Sums payable to organist, choirs, bell ringers, flower arrangers, etc is different. If such sums are charged in respect of genuinely optional items which the parties to the marriage, or the parties to a funeral or burial, have specifically requested and agreed to pay for then there is nothing to prevent these additional charges being made. What it is not open to an incumbent or a PCC to do is to purport to make charges over and above the statutory fee for items that are simply essentia
