REPAIRS AND MAINTENANCE
The day to day care of your church building and churchyard is an ongoing task and often an onerous one. The DAC can help advise with much of this but in the first place seek advice from your own church architect and with reference to your latest Quinquennial Report for guidance. Most like for like repairs can be done under List B (see The DAC and also the Online Faculty Sections). Changes to your building or churchyard will need a Faculty.
DAC Guidance Note 1 Quinquennial Inspections & Reports
For some general advice see the Churchcare website:
The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) has good advice related to a variety of repair and maintenance issues
Historic England the main body for consulting when making changes to a listed church building has advice in this area
The Arthur Rank Centre is an ecumenical national charity, which resources, trains, and advocates for rural Christians, rural churches and the communities they serve.
Health & Safety
PCCs must insure against the usual risks. The Ecclesiastical Insurance Group, have a range of resources available to PCCs, including guidance on a range of matters from fire and safety to the benefits of keeping churches open to visitors
Where a church is undertaking a significant project, duties arise under the CDM (Construction Design and Management) Regulations 2015. Your architect or surveyor will be able to guide you on making the necessary appointments. Advice can be obtained from the HSE (Health & Safety Executive)
The safety of gravestones in burial grounds is an important issue. The Ministry of Justice has produced guidance that will help churches in assessing and managing the safety risk.
SmartWater Insurance Advice
Our stance on SmartWater can be summarised as follows:
- Cover is subject to external metal being protected and registered by SmartWater or an alternative forensic marking system that has been approved by us.
- It is a policy condition of Ecclesiastical for theft of metal cover that:
- SmartWater (or an acceptable alternative forensic marking solution) is applied to all external metals
- It is registered with the supplier – Ecclesiastical will meet the registration fee for SmartWater as part of our partnership with the company
- Accompanying signage is displayed prominently to act as a deterrent to thieves
If this policy condition is not met, churches are not covered for theft or attempted theft of metal or the damage caused by metal theft.
It is important to note that there is no cover for theft or attempted theft of metal and the subsequent damage whilst scaffolding is erected at your premises unless agreed by us.
Relevant guidance from us can be found at the links below:
Church security | Church guidance | Ecclesiastical
SmartWater for churches | Risk Management | Ecclesiastical
Theft of metal | Church guidance note | Ecclesiastical
Theft of metal checklist for churches | Church security guidance | Ecclesiastical
Oil Storage and Theft Guidance
The increase in the cost of heating oil has a direct correlation with an increased risk of theft of heating oil. This is more relevant in the winter when there is more demand for the oil and many properties start to carry increased stocks.
Relevant guidance is below: