A Diocesan Board of Finance, often abbreviated to DBF, is an institution of the Church of England which owns land and controls a number of financial matters in each of the Church's dioceses.
Such boards have existed in every diocese of the Church since 1926, their creation having been required by the Diocesan Boards of Finance Measure 1925, a measure passed by the National Assembly of the Church of England "to make provision for the Powers, Duties and Constitution of Diocesan Boards of Finance". "Diocesan Boards of Finance Measure 1925", legislation.gov.uk, accessed 12 September 2022 However, some were established before that, by local initiatives.
A Diocesan Board of Finance is constituted by the Diocesan Synod and must be incorporated as a company under the Companies Acts.Diocesan Boards of Finance Measure 1925 (as amended), Section 1 It must be registered under the Companies Act 2006, and also as a charitable organization.Legal Advisory Commission of the General Synod, Legal Opinions Concerning the Church of England (2007), p. 110 For example, Salisbury DBF was incorporated in 1882"Salisbury Diocesan Board of Finance", Companies House, accessed 29 September 2022 and established as a charity in 1923."The Salisbury Diocesan Board of Finance, registered charity no. 240833", Charity Commission for England and Wales, accessed 29 September 2022
As laid down by the Diocesan Stipends Funds Measure 1953, one function of a Diocesan Board of Finance is to maintain a capital account and an income account for the diocesan stipends fund.Diocesan Boards of Finance: Conflicts of Interest, churchofengland.org, accessed 13 September 2022
By virtue of the Endowments and Glebe Measure 1976, with effect from 1 April 1978 all glebe land of the Church of England, which until then had belonged to the individual incumbents of benefices, became vested "without any conveyance or other assurance" in the Diocesan Board of Finance of the diocese to which the benefice belonged, even if the land was in another diocese. "Endowments and Glebe Measure 1976 ", legislation.gov.uk, accessed 12 September 2022
The case of Fraser and another v. Canterbury Diocesan Board of Finance UKHL 65, decided by the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords in October 2005, concerned land in Maidstone given for a school site in 1866, under the Schools Sites Act 1841. The Diocesan Board of Finance argued that it was entitled to keep the sale proceeds for its own purposes, as any claim for return of the land was statute barred. However, Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe, and Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood all found against the Diocesan Board of Finance and ordered that it must return the proceeds of the sale to the heirs of the original donors.Fraser and another v. Canterbury Diocesan Board of Finance 2005 UKHL 65, publications.parliament.uk, accessed 12 September 2022 Notes
External links Diocesan Boards of Finance: Conflicts of Interest, churchofengland.org Sale of land by Diocesan Boards of Finance and Parochial Church Councils, Guidance of the Legal Office of the National Church Institutions