General Synod

The General Synod is the national decision-making body of the Church of England.

General Synod Elections

As of 14 July 2026 the existing Synod has been dissolved and the election process has commenced for electing a new General Synod. In the Diocese of Leicester we will be electing 3 clergy and 3 lay members.

• Election notice for Clergy
• Election notice for Laity

The timeline for this process is set out below.

If you are interested in standing for election, please use the eligibility checker as a guide and then contact Andy Brockbank, Director of Operations and Governance at the Diocese of Leicester on Andy.Brockbank@LeicesterCofE.org for more information and to confirm your eligibility.

If you might be interested in standing for election then there are various places where you can find out more including:

• Our diocesan website: leicester.anglican.org/stand-for-synod.php
• The Church of England website: churchofengland.org/about/governance/general-synod/elections-synod
• Downloadable information for potential candidates (.pdf)

Timetable

The key dates in the election are as follows:

Election Practicalities

The Presiding Officer for the Diocese is Andy Brockbank:
Andy.Brockbank@LeicesterCofE.org
St Martins House, 7 Peacock Lane, Leicester LE1 5PZ

The election process is run online by Civica Election Services.
Nominations and voting are therefore undertaken via an online portal.

However, it is possible to participate using hard copies/paper so that those without computer access are not excluded.
To this end a nomination form for the House of Laity can be downloaded here.
Or you can request a form to be posted to you by contacting the Presiding Officer.

With very few exceptions, any lay person on the electoral roll of a parish in the diocese, or on the mission initiative roll of a Bishop’s Mission Order, can stand for election to the House of Laity. However, only members of Deanery Synods can vote.

Different rules apply to clergy: contact the Presiding Officer if you want to check if you are eligible.

Where possible it is better to use the online nominations portal for nominations. If you are not a Deanery Synod member and want to be a candidate or nominate someone please contact the Presiding Officer for a link for the portal.

If you are a Deanery Synod member and haven’t received a link for the portal already please also contact the Presiding Officer urgently so that we can check if you are on the list of electors.

Other election contacts are:
Lynn Gerighty: lynn.gerighty@leicestercofe.org
David Stevens: david.stevens@leicestercofe.org - 0116 261 5377
Please note that Lynn and David will be able to answer queries about the list of electors, but will generally need to point more detailed queries to the Presiding Officer.

Next Steps

Once nominations are complete the list of candidates will be posted on this webpage along with an election address from every candidate who has provided one.

It is planned to hold one online hustings event for each house (Clergy and Laity) to which we are electing members. This will be during the voting period. Hustings provide an opportunity for candidates to briefly set out their views / reason for standing and then to respond to questions from electors. The dates for the hustings are as follows

• House of Clergy – Monday 28 September, 7pm
• House of Laity – Tuesday 29 September, 7pm

Candidates are advised to note carefully the date of the relevant hustings and make themselves available if at all possible.

Attendance at hustings is restricted to candidates and electors only.

As set out in the timetable above, the voting process runs from 21 September to 13 October. However, those who are voting using a paper ballot must submit that by 12 October at the latest. This is to allow 24 hours for the voting information to be input by the Presiding Officer.