The Church Commissioners is a body which administers the property assets of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

. It was established in 1948 and combined the assets of Queen Anne's Bounty, a fund dating from 1704 for the relief of poor clergy, and of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners formed in 1836. The Church Commissioners are a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

regulated by the

Charity Commission for England and Wales , type = Non-ministerial government department , seal = , seal_caption = , logo = Charity Commission for England and Wales logo.svg , logo_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = , d ...

, and are liable for the payment of

pension A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

s to retired clergy whose pensions were accrued before 1998 (subsequent pensions are the responsibility of the Church of England Pensions Board). The secretary (and chief executive) of the Church Commissioners is Gareth Mostyn.

History

The

Church Building Act 1818 A Commissioners' church, also known as a Waterloo church and Million Act church, is an Anglicanism, Anglican church in the United Kingdom built with money voted by Parliament of the United Kingdom, Parliament as a result of the Church Buildin ...

granted money and established the Church Building Commission to build churches in the cities of the Industrial Revolution. These churches became known variously as

Commissioners' church A Commissioners' church, also known as a Waterloo church and Million Act church, is an Anglican church in the United Kingdom built with money voted by Parliament as a result of the Church Building Acts of 1818 and 1824. The 1818 Act supplied ...

es, Waterloo churches or Million Act churches. The Church Building Commission became the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1836. An earlier

Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues Commission {{Short pages monitor