Letter Template to help you write about how VAT is affecting churches

The Listed Places of Worship Grants Scheme was a lifeline for historic churches, saving them 20 per cent on repair costs. But this scheme has been shut down after 25 successful years, which is having a devastating impact across the country. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport has in effect imposed a new 20% tax on 21,000 listed places of worship – making any repairs or maintenance 20% more expensive. We need your help to persuade the UK Government to make listed churches exempt from VAT on repairs – in the same way that free entry museums are. 

What can you do?

You can help us make the case by writing to your MP.  

Letters of support make a huge difference, so please write if you are able to.

If you are based in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland, you could make twice the impact by writing to your MP as well as your representative on the national level. These letters can be very similar, you will just have to change the address and addressee, from the Houses of Parliament to either Holyrood, the Senedd, or Stormont.   

Tips for writing or emailing your MP

• Please personalise the template as much as you can. You might want to mention your local church or others that are important to you and why. For example, you could mention the different ways you interact with different churches. Maybe you volunteer at one or plan your holidays around visiting churches. Or you might attend parent and toddler groups or other community activities there, drop off food for the food bank or attend worship or concert nights.
• For MPs, use their local constituency office address or: the House of Commons, London SW1A 2TT.
• Make sure to include your address as MPs will only read and respond to people in their constituency. 

Here is a letter template about VAT concerns that you can send to your MP  

 

Dear [Name of your MP],

I am writing to you about the future of VAT relief for churches in light of the closure of the Listed Places of Worship Grants Scheme, a scheme which formerly allowed listed places of worship of all faiths across the UK to reclaim the VAT that they pay on repairs.

This Scheme was successful for 25 years, saving churches and other places of worship around £30m a year in taxes. Now, volunteers who donate and fundraise money are being taxed at 20% to be good custodians of our greatest historic buildings; 45% of Grade I listed buildings are churches. But museums and galleries which are free to enter do not pay VAT on repairs. This is a deeply unfair situation and will impact volunteer morale.

Churches are our largest network of volunteers running 22,000 food banks and distribution services serving 3 million people a year (The Trussell Trust), homeless shelters, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, mum and toddler groups, amateur music and far more. 

The UK Government has introduced a Places of Worship Renewal Fund but this is for England only and extremely competitive: it will only support 100-150 buildings a year compared to 5,000 or more aided by the previous VAT scheme. Both should exist in tandem. We know that a universal VAT scheme has helped churches across the country and is easy for them to use.  

[Insert mention of your local church here and why it is an important local building]

I very much hope that as my MP you can raise this issue with the Heritage Minister, who knows the good churches do.  

VAT relief has been the only consistent form of funding for places of worship – and this is just tax relief, not upfront capital funding.

• The scale of the buildings maintained in this way is astonishing. There are about 38,500 active Christian places of worship in the UK - and of course many more from other faiths. These buildings represent an extraordinary resource that reaches every community. By comparison the UK has just 3,600 public libraries and 7,900 GP surgeries.
• These buildings form by far the biggest base for voluntary activity in the UK. There is voluntary activity of just about every kind: youth groups, groups for parents and toddlers, for people who are elderly, lonely or vulnerable. The sheer scale of this activity, and its local nature, means it is regularly taken for granted, but there are many examples in your constituency.  

There is a financial crisis that is already affecting church buildings: many churches can no longer afford to maintain their buildings. Adding VAT costs will accelerate closures, decay, and the decline of community activity. Fewer people will volunteer and fewer people will benefit.  

I hope very much that you can make the case on my behalf to have listed churches exempted from VAT on repairs, bringing churches in line with museums and galleries which, if free to enter, are themselves exempt from VAT on repairs. Surely the nation’s largest free-entry museum, its churches, deserve the same treatment?  

Yours sincerely, 
[Your name and address]