Stipendiary Ministers, in Church of England practice, are those who are paid a stipend by the central Church authorities in order to allow them to minister without the distraction of having to earn a living. In English law they are not employees but office holders. Stipendiaries may be of Incumbent status with responsibility for a range of other stipendiary or non stipendiary ministers. Hospital and other chaplains are not strictly stipendiary but paid a salary by the public body by whom they are employed.