Changes to our eligibility criteria

Clergy Support Trust is here to support Anglican clergy households who find themselves in life challenging situations, which may include health, care or financial need.

The level of need that we have seen from our applicants has grown exponentially in recent years. In the past five years, we have provided over £30 million in grants to clergy and their families; that's double the £15 million we provided in the previous five-year period. We now support 1 in 5 of all serving Church of England clergy each year as well as many more, serving and retired, in the Church in Wales, Church of Ireland, Scottish Episcopal Church, and the Diocese in Europe.

An income threshold is best practice for many grant-giving charities like us, and will help us to ensure that our resources are focused on supporting applicants throughout the challenges of life and ministry, rather than providing regular, year-on-year support.

No. The limits we set around income, savings and property ownership are high-level thresholds for all our grants and services.

If you are below these thresholds, you can verify your household, which will determine what grants and services may be available to you. We do not usually ask for evidence in relation to these thresholds, and are reliant on trust, based on the information you disclose to us.

Very few of our grants are means-tested beyond the thresholds of property, savings and income. Our Financial Support Grants, and in exceptional cases Education Support grants, are means-tested, and will require documentary evidence and more financial disclosure, all of which are calculated against a clergy-adapted version of the Minimum Income Standard. The Minimum Income Standard is a tool which outlines the minimum level of income a household needs to live a dignified life, as defined by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

We based our thresholds on a clergy-adapted version of the Minimum Income Standard, as set out by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a charity that conducts and funds research aimed at solving poverty in the UK. The Minimum Income Standard is a tool which outlines the minimum level of income a household needs to live a dignified life, as defined by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

We took an average* household (one living in tied housing, and another living with direct housing costs like rent or mortgage) and calculated the anticipated gross income required to have the JRF-defined dignified standard of living. We then added extra costs to ensure our thresholds were over and above the minimum standard, providing a higher, more generous threshold.

This is partly because we understand the often hidden costs of ministry and the additional expenses clergy can incur. It also recognises that many households in the wider UK population meet their housing costs from comparatively modest incomes – the average non-clergy UK salary is £39k per year plus housing costs - so our thresholds have been set with a broader sense of fairness and financial context.

*The national average number of dependent children per family with at least one dependent child is 1.77 (Office for National Statistics, 2024).

Gross income is the total amount of money you (and your partner/spouse) earn before tax, National Insurance, pension contributions or student loans are deducted.

We are mainly interested in stipend, salaries and pensions. However, if you have additional significant income which would take your household over our income thresholds, we expect this to be disclosed.

For those who are self-employed, income would be calculated from business income (turnover) minus business expenses, before any personal tax or NI deductions. These figures can be found on recent self-assessment tax returns or business accounts.

If you live in tied housing, regardless of other housing costs, your income threshold will be £65,000.

This means that if you and your spouse earn more than £65,000 of gross income, you won’t be able to access our grants and services. You will, however, still be able to access the helpful digital resources, guides and courses on our new Support Hub.

Yes. Income thresholds will rise each year, in line with inflation.

During the pandemic, we temporarily increased the number of Emergency Grants available per household per year from two to three, to ensure that our applicants were supported during this unprecedented and challenging time.

We continued this throughout the subsequent cost-of-living crisis, providing essential, additional support for a further two years, before returning to two Emergency Grants per household per year from January 2025.

During 2025/26, the Church of England provided the Trust with a generous £2.5m grant, which enabled us to continue providing Emergency Grants to many households. That funding understandably ceased when, thanks in large part to the Trust’s persistent advocacy, the stipend increased by 10.7% for many clergy in April 2026. Because of this, we feel it’s appropriate to now refocus our Emergency Grant support for those applicants in the greatest financial need.

If you meet the financial thresholds on income, savings and property, the number of Emergency Grants you can access will be determined based on your income and savings levels after verification.

Many households will continue to receive two Emergency Grants, and will be unaffected by these changes. Others may receive one, and a small percentage may not receive any. However, if you do not meet the criteria for an Emergency Grant, you may – provided you meet the thresholds – be eligible for other grants, such as Wellbeing and Health grants.

Yes. From January 2027, we are asking all applicants (previous or new) to re-verify themselves, before they make an application.

This will enable our Grants & Services team to assess your situation and consider what support we may be able to offer.

As we anticipate a great many re-verifications in January, we kindly ask that if your request is not urgent or time-pressured, you consider verifying your household later in the year.

Yes. However, if you are a past applicant, we will have evidence of your link to Anglican clergy, so we will not need to see this again.

Normally, we would be able to receive and assess applications for breaks booked for January or February, in advance (e.g. November or December). However, as we are introducing new thresholds from 2027, we will be unable to consider such requests until midday on Tuesday 12 January 2027. In some circumstances, we may be able to take some retrospective costs into account.

We would strongly advise that, when booking a break, you are able to meet the full cost. As with any grant request, there is no guarantee of meeting criteria and receiving a successful outcome, based on previous outcomes.

As all households will need to be verified, we kindly ask that if your request is not urgent or time-pressured, you consider verifying your household later in the year.

This will depend on your total gross income, whether you live in tied housing, your property ownership, and your total household savings. Please refer to our new thresholds before making an application.

From November 2026, we launch our new Support Hub, containing a wealth of free resources, signposting, courses and guides across a range of topics, including mental health, preparing for retirement, and budget planning. We hope that the Hub will widen our support to many new households, and support excellent wellbeing for clergy and their families, whether in current financial need or not.

If you are experiencing a significant life event then, from early 2027, our Visiting Caseworker Service may be able to provide practical guidance, signposting, and emotional support, regardless of whether you meet our financial thresholds. Keep watch for further updates on this new expanded service.

If seeking counselling, self-funded direct referrals can be made to our counselling partners, JR Corporate Health. In addition, self-funded coaching can be provided through our coaching partners, 3D Coaching. We will be providing more information on how to refer yourself directly from November 2026.

If you have a child who has been supported by us in the last year for education costs relating to a Special Educational Need, and you do not meet the new thresholds, please contact us directly from January 2027 so we may assess your situation.