A faculty is required for most repairs, maintenance and changes to a church building or its contents. Please check before carrying out works whether a faculty is required as it is a legal requirement and works should not be undertaken before a faculty has been granted.
The decision to grant a faculty is made by the Chancellor of the diocese, or in the case of a List B by the archdeacon, acting on the advice of the DAC. Applications can be made through the Online Faculty System. It is a web-based planning portal where parishes can develop proposals for new works in their church building, obtain DAC advice, record List A items, and apply for List B and Faculty. It allows all parties to access information on a particular proposal quickly and efficiently in a single online space.
Please make your application as clear as possible. If you make clear what you want to do, why you want to do it and what the end result will be, it will help the DAC team advance your application smoothly.
A list of submitted since 1 April 2020 that sit within the Public Notice period can be found on the Church of England Online Faculty System.
Please contact Kevin Tucker (ktucker@diocant.org), before accessing the , in which you will need to first.
Please find a list of frequently asked questions .
New building management portal replacing the online faculty system
The Church of England is introducing the Building Management Portal, which will replace the Online Faculty System for applications relating to works on churches, their contents, and churchyards, with a planned release date of Tuesday 6 October 2026.
The existing faculty List A and List B processes are not changing. However, the new portal will provide a clearer and more intuitive digital route for preparing, submitting, reviewing, and managing applications.
Access to the Building Management Portal is provided through the , which offers a secure sign-in process with two-factor authentication. If you do not already have a CofE Portal account, you may need to set one up before accessing the Building Management Portal.
Some users will also be asked to complete a one-off registration step. This ensures you are assigned the appropriate permissions for your role, church and diocese within the system.
Timeline
| Date |
Action |
|---|---|
| Wednesday 30 September | Online Faculty System closes and final data export is completed |
| Friday 2 - Monday 5 October | System migration |
| From Tuesday 6 October | Building Management Portal available to users |
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If you have any queries, please contact Kevin Tucker.