Earlier this year, the UK Government confirmed the end of Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. It will be replaced by a £92 million four-year-fund called the Places of Worship Renewal Fund. The future of churches is our biggest heritage challenge, and so it is positive that the UK Government wants to continue to invest in churches. Read our analysis below – on what’s been revealed so far about the Places of Worship Renewal Fund, how it compares to previous support from the UK Government, and what must happen for the scheme to be successful in keeping churches open and in use.
Please note that some of these details may change when the new Fund is formally launched by Historic England and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Is this fund an increase in funding for historic churches?
No. The £92 million pounds is going to be split across four years, so it works out at £23 million per year. In 2025/2026 the budget for the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme was £23 million per year, but in 2024/2025 the budget was £42 million. The funding will actually be a drop in real terms, as it will not rise with inflation.
Will VAT costs on repairs be reclaimable?
All repairs and maintenance that take place now at any listed place of worship will be subject to the full VAT costs at 20%. There is no reclaim scheme available for places of worship. For the churches that are successful in receiving a Places of Worship Renewal Fund grant, we do not yet know if they will be able to include VAT costs as part of their application.
Will the scheme still be for listed places of worship only?
No. While the scheme has been designed to fund listed places of worship, so churches, chapels, meeting houses and cathedrals as well as synagogues, temples and mosque, the criteria for the scheme will not require the building to have been built as a place of worship. A building will have to run either six or more religious services a year or the equivalent number of community groups. This could make the process more competitive, as this opens up applications to a larger number of buildings, and means that there is now no ring-fenced UK Government fundings for repairs for plaes of worship.
Will the scheme support places of worship in England, Scotland, Wales/Cymru and Northern Ireland?
No. It will be only available to listed places of worship in England only. Nothing has yet been released about any additional funding or support for places of worship in Scotland, Wales/Cymru or Northern Ireland. Churches in these three nations have no additional funding and now no access to VAT relief, so they are 20% worse off.
Will it operate in the same way as the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme?
No. The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme was essentially ran as a VAT reclaim scheme. It was managed by The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and to claim VAT costs, all listed places of worship would need to do is to submit their receipts online for repairs and maintenance that was carried out. From 2001, when it was set up, to March 2025, listed places of worship could reclaim the full cost of VAT, whereas from March 2025 to April 2026, the Labour Government introduced a cap of £25,000.
The Places of Worship Renewal Fund will be run as a competitive grants scheme.
How many churches will benefit from the new Fund?
The new fund is likely to be able to support around 100-150 listed places of worship a year, awarding grants between £10,000 and £1 million. The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme supported around 5,000 each year through VAT reclaims.
When will this new grant come into effect? Will it be available on 1 April, once the Listed Places of Worship Grant scheme officially ends?
Historic England are still working on the details of the Places of Worship Renewal Fund and how they will be implementing it. They are set to share the plan in a few weeks with the Department For Culture, Media and Sport for review.
What is the process of applying for a grant from the Places of Worship Renewal Fund?
The new grant scheme will be managed and delivered by Historic England and will be a two-stage process.
Listed places of worship will have to complete an Expression of Interest (EOI) and submit this to Historic England.
Successful applicants will then be invited to apply for a grant, from which there are three streams:
- £10,000-£50,000
- £50,000-£350,000
- £350,000+ capped at £1 million
What types of work will be covered by the new scheme?
So far, we understand that it will cover the following:
- Urgent repairs
- Repairs that will cut down on future maintenance costs
- Facilities projects, such as creating accessible access and adding in toilets but only if it is part of an urgent repairs project
- Net zero / carbon interventions
What it will not cover, which the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme covered, is:
- Ongoing maintenance tasks
- Facilities or accessibility projects where there are no urgent repairs.
Who will decide which listed places of worship receive grants?
- Historic England will decide who gets funding and what amount. They are looking to employ new Support Officers to help with the applications. The detail for the scheme is still being worked out, but they have indicated a strong preference for funding:
- Places of Worship in areas of high deprivation or which serve – through community support – areas of high deprivation (scored using the Indices of Multiple Deprivation [IMD] measurement)
- Locations which lack vital infrastructure, as measured with the Community Needs Index (CNI)
- Places of Worship that are highly engaged in their local community; hosting and running support, event and activities from their buildings
- Projects that already part-way through or that can be up-and-running quickly, so that the money can be paid out in and the projected completed quickly.
When will this new grant come into effect?
Historic England has been working with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to finalise the scheme. Once the Fund has been approved by DCMS it will go live. They are expecting to launch the scheme in early April.
If the Fund is launched in early April, then the first application window for churches to put in an EOI will be in April. A second round will follow later in the year.
How quickly will the grants be decided?
As it is a two-stage process that Historic England are introducing, we estimate that it will take several months from the submitting the Expression of Interest to hearing that you are successful and what grant size you have been awarded.
Will there be a rolling deadline?
No. We believe there will be two windows each year in which Expressions of Interest will be received. This is different from the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, under which you could submit claims throughout the year, depending on your own project timelines.
Here is our analysis of the scheme – and what must happen for it to be successful in helping keep churches open and in use
We have long campaigned for a capital fund scheme for churches. The future of church buildings is the biggest heritage crisis facing the UK. We are thankful that the Government listened to us and have renewed support for churches – this could have ended on April 1 – but MPs and policymakers have reconsidered.
However, this should be seen as a first step in the process. It’s imperative we get this right so that historic places of worship will benefit from the new scheme. And there’s issues around tax that must be addressed and made fairer across the board.
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Churches depend overwhelmingly on volunteers; the scheme will need to be simple, accessible and predictable
We are concerned that this grant application process could still be burdensome for churches, many of which rely on volunteers and do not have paid staff who can fill out expressions of interest and funding applications. Through our Support Officers, who work on the ground in every UK nation, we know that many churches have been put off applying to grant funders, such as The National Lottery Fund, because of the long application process with no guarantee of success. With such a competitive Fund, churches could be put off applying.
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Wales/Cymru, Scotland and Northern Ireland must not be neglected – places of worship there need support too
We understand that Historic England has a remit of supporting places of worship in England only. The Department For Culture, Media and Sport must urgently work out how they can deliver support in Wales/Cymru, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Even though heritage is a devolved issue, it is disappointing that a UK-wide Scheme has been replaced with an England-only one.
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Projects with a quick-turn-around should not be overly prioritised
Repair projects are often many years in the planning because they require specific permissions, materials and expertise. The system should not penalise well thought-through and considered projects that will take longer but bring lasting benefits to the community and protect and preserve the building – and the nation’s heritage – for the long-term.
The big question – what about VAT?
In their announcement, the Department For Culture, Media and Sport said they wanted to: “bring these important buildings into line with other heritage assets. [the new fund] will give them access to the same level of financial support from the government as historic houses, monuments and other heritage sites.
However, from 1 April listed places of worship will have to bear the full cost of VAT on repairs. This brings to an end a system that has operated successfully for over 20 years, where places of worship could reclaim their VAT costs. It means that in future local people will have to raise money not just to repair roofs and towers but to pay a 20% tax to the Government.
Churches, unlike historic houses, are the home to a whole range of activities that support the local community including foodbanks, mental health support, and community groups.
Museums and galleries offering free admission don’t have to pay VAT on repairs, but in future churches will.
What the Government must do to make things fair across the board
The Government should ensure that all listed places of worship across the UK can reclaim all VAT costs on repairs and maintenance of their buildings. This brings them in line with other heritage assets, such as museums.
It is not right that it costs 0% to demolish a listed church, when from 1 April listed churches will now have to pay 20% tax to maintain the building.
Churches across the UK save the NHS costs of £8.3 billion a year from community support they host and run in their buildings. A small thing for the UK Government, but what would make a huge difference to churches, is to remove this tax burden.
Next steps
Please consider writing to your MP about these changes – especially if they will impact your church, chapel, meeting house or cathedral.
At the National Churches Trust we will continue to speak up for places of worship in every nation, to help keep them open and in use. Thank you.