12/06/2026
Under the terms of national spending plans announced in 2025, around £2 million extra per year is to be invested in a redesigned and more generous grant scheme for people training for ordained ministry in the Church of England.
The announcement comes as the number of people entering training has risen after four years of decline, with 442 entering training in September last year compared to 329 the year before.
Under the current system all maintenance support is means tested but the arrangements, starting from the 2026/27 academic year, will provide eligible ordinands in full-time training with non means-tested maintenance grants of between £17,141 and £26,127, calculated according to average housing costs in three designated ‘zones’ throughout the country.
The standard grants will be topped up for those with children or other dependents with means tested awards which will be calculated on significantly more generous terms than under the previous system. A discretionary fund for emergencies or exceptional costs rounds off the package.
Part-time ordinands will receive an annual grant of £1,000 to help with costs during training such as paying for computer equipment and books, in addition to being able to claim travel expenses. They will also be able to apply to the discretionary fund if their training leads to additional exceptional costs, such as for childcare.
The new system is part of the new Ministry Training Fund, or MTF, and aims to ensure greater clarity, consistency and an easier way of accessing financial support while in training.
The Church of England’s Director for Ministry, the Rev Canon Nicholas McKee, said:
“The new arrangements are much more generous and will provide a simpler and more consistent system for making awards. It is essential that the church provides appropriate support for trainee clergy and so I am very pleased indeed that we are able to transform our maintenance support for ordinands in this way.
“We will be listening carefully to feedback from our ordinands and making any necessary adjustments should they be needed as the new system rolls out.
“These new grants are part of a wider package to improve the wellbeing of clergy from the beginning of their ministry through to retirement.”
The Bishop of Barking, Lynne Cullens, who chaired the recent task and finish group setting the foundation for a strategy for working-class vocations across the Church, told the General Synod earlier this year of her own struggle to manage the financial impact of ordained ministry training as a single mother.
She said: “I very much welcome this improved package of funding for ordinands as an important practical step forward in supporting vocations to ordained ministry. If we are to be a Church that truly represents the people that we serve, we must be able to raise up leaders, both lay and ordained, who are not disadvantaged during training on the grounds of their income or their socio-economic background”.
The administration of the grant system will be introduced in stages. For the academic year 2026–27 ordinands will apply through their diocese. This is an interim arrangement while work continues to introduce national administration of the grants including the introduction of an online portal which will make applying for and accessing funds easier.
Once fully operational, the new national processes will also mean reduced administration for dioceses and Theological Education Institutions (TEIs) and allow for improved insight into training costs and therefore make it easier to plan for future cohorts.
The project team developing the new grant system includes senior officers from across the National Church Institutions with an advisory board which includes representatives from TEIs, dioceses as well as the Ordinands’ Association.