VII.	REGULATIONS ANENT THE NATIONAL STIPEND SCHEME
Edinburgh, 22 May 2003, Session 7
The National Stipend Fund
1	The National Stipend Fund will be funded from congregational contributions and income from the National Stipend Fund.
2	Payments from the National Stipend Fund will cover:
(a)	stipend payments to Ministers and related employers' National Insurance payments;
(b)	a contribution to the Church of Scotland Main Pension Fund;
(c)	a contribution to the Church of Scotland’s Housing and Loan Fund which will have an upper limit of two per cent of the estimated total cost of congregational stipends and other congregational support costs as defined by the Ministries Council from time to time.
Determination of Scales
3	The National Stipend Scale will be determined in respect of each calendar year by the Ministries Council and reported to the following General Assembly.
4	The Ministries Council will calculate and declare annually the scales of additional payments which may be paid to Parish Ministers who have eligible qualifying service and whose Charge qualifies under conditions determined from time to time by the Ministries Council.
5	The Ministries Council will declare annually the appropriate rate of vacancy allowance.
6	The Ministries Council will calculate and declare annually the Income bands and contribution rates to the National Stipend Fund payable by all congregations and the total budget to be allocated to congregations for the National Stipend Fund shall not exceed the total share of the Co-ordinated Budget awarded by the General Assembly to Ministry Funds.
Qualifying Stipend Service
7	In respect of each Minister receiving stipend, the appropriate point on the National Stipend Scale will be calculated according to the length of qualifying service as defined below; the exact length of all such periods of service to be added together to determine the number of qualifying years.
8	Qualifying service is defined as all ordained service listed in Sections 11, 12, 13 and 14 of Act III 2000 (Consolidating Act anent Church Courts) (as amended) or service in another church from which he or she has been admitted, provided the Ministries Council determines such service to be the equivalent of that herein listed.
9	Qualifying service is calculated on the basis of full-time and part-time service, with the payment of part-time service calculated on a pro rata basis.
Congregational Contributions to the National Stipend Fund
10	The Ministries Council will determine annually the contribution to the National Stipend Fund of each congregation, whether vacant or not, calculated on the congregational income determined under Regulations I 2002 (for Allocating the Mission and Aid Fund).
11	The contribution will be payable net of the Consolidated Stipend Fund income and Glebe income of the congregation.   In the event of the total of a congregation’s Consolidated Stipend Fund income and Glebe income being greater than its contribution then the net contribution payment will be nil.   The total of the Consolidated Stipend Fund income and Glebe income of any congregation is, therefore, its minimum contribution to the National Stipend Fund.
12	The Ministries Council will provide figures for congregational contributions to the National Stipend Fund and figures for additional congregational payments to Parish Ministers (as permitted by Regulation 4) for the following financial year to the General Treasurer by 15 November each year.
13	These regulations will come into force on 1 January 2004.