Faculty procedures and the DAC
A faculty is normally required for all repairs, alterations or additions to Church of England churches, their contents and the churchyards and land belonging to them. If there is any doubt as to whether a faculty is needed, then the DAC Secretary should be consulted before any work is started.
Faculties are granted by the Chancellor of the Diocese. He takes advice from a variety of bodies including the Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC); the DAC does NOT grant faculties it only advises.
Many of our churches are listed and as such The Church of England has to follow procedures similar to what takes place with listed buildings in the secular world. It is therefore necessary for each application for a faculty to be considered carefully by the DAC, the Archdeacons and the Chancellor. This requires full details to be supplied so that the application can be fully assessed on the evidence of the paperwork. Applicants for faculties should consult the DAC office if on any doubt as to what they need to supply.
The DAC comprises a range of people with differing expertise and their advice can be sought on a variety of topics including, heating, organs, stained glass, general architectural matters, bells, art, sound amplification systems, lighting, furniture and church fittings, reordering schemes and others. If you require help and advice first consult the DAC Secretary who will suggest a course of action.
For further information please download the relevant documents from below. If the works relate to trees in the churchyard, please see the page dedicated to Trees
The DAC has produced a guidance note (available below and on the Advisory Notes page) of the information that should be in the architect's specification.
Downloads
| Name | Description | Download |
| Application Pack Contents 19th Jun 2007 |
A list of the documents PCC's need to download |  22.37KB |
| Application Pack Contents 30th Jun 2008 |
List of the documents required for the Faculty (Fabric and Churchyards only) application pack | 6.06KB |
| Architect's Specification 11th Apr 2008 |
Guidance on what the DAC expects from an architect's specification | 197.36KB |
| Conservators Reports 19th Jun 2007 |
Guidance from the Council for the Care of Churches (CCC) on the minimum information that ought to be in Conservator's Reports for various proposals | 125.15KB |
| DAC Meeting Dates - Coventry Diocese 30th Jun 2008 |
A list of the meeting dates of the Coventry DAC and the cut-off dates for the submission of papers for the Agenda | 4.7KB |
| DAC meeting Dates - Leicester Diocese 30th Jun 2008 |
A list of the meeting dates of the Leicester DAC and the cut-off dates for the receipt of papers for the Agenda | 4.45KB |
| Faculty Application Guidelines 19th Jun 2007 |
Guidance on how to complete the Faculty Petition form | 73.52KB |
| Faculty Petition for work to the church or the churchyard (NOT trees) 19th Jun 2007 |
The Faculty Petition form in word format |  138KB |
| Faculty Petition Form for work to the church and churchyard (NOT trees) 19th Jun 2007 |
The Faculty Petition form in pdf format | 102.46KB |
| Faculty Process 9th Jun 2008 |
Guidance note on how the Faculty process works | 60.81KB |
| Faculty Questions & Answers 19th Jun 2007 |
A set of answers to frequently asked questions | 59.62KB |
| Statements of Significance - Exemplar 17th Dec 2007 |
An example of a Statement of Significance that the DAC found particularly helpful | 659.79KB |
| Statements of Singificance and Need 12th Oct 2007 |
Guidance for the Council for the Care of Churches (CCC) on writing Statements of Significance and Need | 132.48KB |
| Useful Addresses 7th May 2008 |
A list of addresses that might be useful | 33.4KB |