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The objects of potential income are to achieve a degree of
equality in the measurement of parochial ability to pay a proportion
of the diocesan share, and to stimulate parochial resourcefulness
by setting a target. Under the former system based on actual income
there was an inherent bias which placed a greater burden on those
parishes which were making a strenuous effort to maximise their
income, and a correspondingly lower burden on those perhaps more
lethargic parishes who were content to 'muddle through' on a lower
income. In order to be more equitable, all parishes are now
assessed on notional figures of what they could reasonably be
expected to achieve if they made the necessary effort. Initially
instituted in 1974 under the semi-professional guidance of a team
from the Lichfield diocese, a revision was made during 1977 (to
become effective in 1978) by an intra-diocesan team.
The decision to use an intra-diocesan team was made by the
Board of Finance in 1977 and each rural dean was asked to nominate
one individual. The resultant group of eight persons were given a
series of three training sessions during which they were appraised of
the objects, the methods previously used, and the difficulties likely
to be encountered. These sessions also included a 'dummy run' on
figures for unnamed parishes. They were then allocated to deaneries
other than their own (so that none was required to assess his own
parish), supplied by the Diocesan Secretary with data (including the
Secretary's confidential opinion of what would be an appropriate
result) relative to each of that deanery's parishes, and arrangements
made for them to meet in turn, small teams of parochial representatives.
At these meetings the basic procedure seems to have been fairly
standard and we can conveniently appraise it by taking a typical
example :
