Electoral roll

Importance of the Church electoral roll

The parish church electoral roll is the first building block of the church’s governance structure. It is a register of the lay members of the church who are entitled to vote at the APCM. Subject to the note below, those on the roll are eligible to be elected to lay representative positions on their PCC and deanery synod. Deanery synod representatives may then be elected to diocesan synod and general synod. The total number on the parish church electoral roll, as presented at the APCM, is an important factor in determining the number of lay representatives (parochial and deanery synod) that a parish may have, whilst being only a small component of how the parish share allocation is determined.

Given this, each year a formal process is undertaken by the PCC, as preparation for the APCM, to ensure the roll's accuracy. FOR 2025 A NEW ELECTORAL ROLL WILL NEED TO BE PREPARED (EVERY 6 YEARS) INSTEAD OF THE USUAL REVISION. Please see the APCM webpage for further guidance on the procedure, forms and timing of this process. For the rules governing electoral roll enrolment, revisions and preparation see Church Representation Rules Part 1. A summary of these rules is provided below with the relevant link to the forms.

Who is eligible to enrol?
Ensuring the electoral roll's accuracy
Electoral officer
Access to the electoral roll

Information to be submitted to the diocese

No later than 1 July in each year, the PCC chair/vice-chair/ secretary/ electoral roll officer must advise the secretary of the diocesan synod of the number of names on the roll as at the date of the APCM. This should be done via the parish returns system, by logging on (contacting parishreturns@oxford.anglican.org for a logon if you don’t have one or this is lost) and going onto electoral roll input page. Please note this is only accessible after Easter (the portal is handled by National Church). See screen prints below for further guidance. ONLY If you are unable to do this please email dero@oxford.anglican.org with the electoral roll number for your parish, as we will enter this for you, but do not send if you have already entered the number to save us the exercise of checking. Please also do NOT send us the electoral roll itself, in any form, as would form a breach of data protection laws to do so.

See screenshot

Essential documents to manage your parish's electoral roll (also on the APCM page):

  • Ea Notice of preparation of new roll: Word | PDF  (E1 Notice for revision of roll removed for 2025)
  • E2 Application for enrolment on church electoral roll (SG1): Word | PDF (link to Parish Resources website - see Form 1 for editable PDF)
  • E3 Electoral roll certificate: Word | PDF
Page last updated: Sunday 16th March 2025 3:35 PM
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