The Diocesan Scheme:

Diocesan Scheme Declarations

Parishes in the Diocesan Scheme can be provided with four different types of Declaration, free of charge. These are:

• Standard Declarations (Cream): To cover all the donations to the church. These have the wording:
  “I want the church to treat all donations I have made since …./…./20…. and all donations I make from the date of this Declaration …….”. We recommend you put 1st January of whatever year is to be the first claimed for in the box. This will make your claim more straightforward. Please note that claims can be retrospective for up to 4 years, but not before 06/04/2000. These Declarations are also available with a Standing Order form attached.
• Single Donation Declarations (Blue): For a one-off enclosed single donation. If the person is ever likely to give anything again, you should use a cream standard Declaration. These can be used to cover a one-off cheque, or cash donation.
• One-off Donation Envelopes, with Declaration: These are aimed at visitors and are similar to the blue Declaration. We also have available versions of these for Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals, where occasional offices produce large donations. Again, people who are likely to give more than once should not use these, but use a cream Declaration. If you receive a donation in one of these envelopes from someone with a cream Declaration, the envelope can be treated as an additional giving envelope.
• Declaration with an upper limit (Green). These are the same as the cream Declaration, but have an upper limit on the amount on which a claim can be made. These are for those donors who pay a limited amount of tax. They can state the maximum donation in a tax year on which you can claim. They may give more than this, but not have the tax to cover. You should only claim on this type of Declaration for the whole of the tax year. This donor may need to cancel their Declaration and take out a new one each year, to reflect their changing tax situation.

The Diocese has had approval from HMRC Charites for these Declarations. You may request as many as required from St James' House.

When you have some completed Declarations, send them in to St James' House. We recommend that you photocopy them first. You must keep a photocopy of the Envelope Declarations, as these form part of your envelope records, and audit trail. At St James' House, each Declaration will be checked. Once it is entered onto the computer system, you will be sent an acknowledgement. Please check the details are correct, and make a note of the unique reference code allocated to the Declaration. The length of time taken to register Declarations and send out an acknowledgment depends on the claims workload, as claims are the first priority.

To find out more about the requirements for wording on Declarations, please click here.

To download the above Declarations, go to the Forms, Leaflets and Posters, but remember parishes on the Diocesan Scheme can have as many as they like, free of charge.