Wells Cathedral is regulated by the Church Commissioners and the Charity Commission, under Cathedrals Measure 2021 and charity legislation. It has been registered as a charity — The Cathedral Church of St Andrew in Wells — since March 2024. The Cathedral’s Constitution and Statutes are available for download below:
Wells Cathedral Constitution - September 2023 (.pdf) Wells Cathedral Statutes - September 2023 (.pdf)The Chapter is the Board of Trustees for the Cathedral, and comprises three Executive members (the Dean, the Chancellor, and the Precentor) and up to nine Non-Executive members, two-thirds of whom must be lay people. Lay Non-Executive members of Chapter are appointed by Chapter, with prior approval of the Bishop of Bath and Wells. The Bishop of Bath and Wells appoints one Non-Executive member to serve as Senior Non-Executive member.
Chapter is supported in its work by two statutory committees:
Day to day decision making is delegated to the Cathedral Leadership Team (the Dean, the Chancellor, the Precentor, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Finance Officer, and Director of Development), and a Schedule of Delegated Authority (SoDA) is in place to articulate how this works in practice.
The Chapter presents its Annual Report and audited Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023.
Annual Report 2023 (.pdf)The Annual Report for 2023 covers:
Please see below the previous Annual Reports for 2018–2022:
Annual Report 2022
Annual Report 2021
Annual Report 2020
Annual Report 2019
Annual Report 2018