Parish Administrator

St Mary's is a friendly, multi-cultural evangelical Anglican church in south-west London. We are looking to appoint a Parish Administrator for 20-30 hours per week to play a key role supporting our church life, the Vicar and Parochial Church Council (PCC).

Responsibilities

To oversee and deliver the day-to-day administration of St Mary's Church, providing organisational and administrative support to the Vicar, staff team, and PCC, and ensuring compliance with policies and statutory requirements. The Parish Administrator is often the first point of contact for the public and plays a key role in ensuring the church office is welcoming, responsive, and aligned with the ethos and aims of St Mary's. This role offers a wide range of responsibilities and variety in the role. There is opportunity to shape the core operations and smooth administration of the church. You will be part of a small, friendly and supportive staff team and a welcoming church family. The role can be done part-time/flexibly. St Mary's will provide access to relevant training and development opportunities for you to succeed in the role, for example ChurchSuite or IT training, UK Church Administrators Network conference. Key Responsibilities include: 1. General Administration: Oversee and maintain all administrative systems required for the smooth running of church life, including church diary and bookings, administration for meetings, and Sunday Services and maintaining databases. 2. Policy Management & Compliance: Maintain, update, and store all statutory and internal church policies (e.g., health & safety, data protection, risk assessments). Arrange appropriate policy reviews and updates, working with others. 3. Safeguarding Administration: Provide administrative support to the Parish Safeguarding Officers e.g. DBS checks. 4. Deployment & HR-Related Admin: Assist with staff, volunteer, and rota deployment by managing contact information, onboarding processes, and coordination of availability. 5. Buildings Administration: Handle administrative aspects of the church building, including faculty applications, permissions, contractors' paperwork, and record-keeping. Support the Vicar and Churchwardens with building-related documentation and scheduling. 6. Hall Hire & Nursery Liaison: Manage hall bookings, invoicing, agreements, and enquiries. 7. ChurchSuite & Digital Systems: Use ChurchSuite to manage rotas, calendars, communication, and member information. 8. Finance, Fundraising & Grants (Administrative Support): Provide administrative support for fundraising initiatives, grant applications, and donor communication. Handle basic financial administration such as invoices, hall hire fees, petty cash records, and expense forms. 9. Occasional Lifecycle & Legal Administration: Manage the administration of banns, baptisms, funerals, and weddings, including legal documentation, registers, and liaison with families. 10. Communications: Assist with written communication on behalf of the church (emails, newsletters, orders of service).

Required skills

Essential - Strong organisational skills with excellent attention to detail. - Ability to prioritise workload, solve problems, and work independently. - Proficiency with IT (Microsoft Office and online tools; familiarity with ChurchSuite is highly desirable). - Good written and verbal communication skills. - Discretion, reliability, and ability to handle confidential information appropriately. - A collaborative team player who can also work alone confidently. Desirable - A committed Christian - Experience in church administration or charity administration. - Knowledge of GDPR, safeguarding, or compliance administration. - Experience overseeing volunteers or junior staff.

Other

- Hours: 20–30 hours per week, to be negotiated. - Working pattern: Ideally within office hours (9am–5pm), flexible across days. Can be term-time only. Occasional evening or weekend work may be required for specific events. - Place of work: Ideally church office but could include some home working. - Salary: £15 per hour - Annual leave: 5 weeks (pro rata) plus bank holidays. - Supervision: The Parish Administrator reports directly to the Vicar. - The successful candidate must obtain an Enhanced DBS Disclosure.