The Future of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme

Scotland Churches Trust

Scotland’s Churches Trust

29 Jan 2025

The UK Government announced last week that the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme (LPWGS), will now only be guaranteed funding until March 2026 and the overall available amount will be reduced, from the total that was available in previous years, with individual applications now capped at £25,000 per building.

Administered by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) the scheme has operated since 2004 and allows eligible listed places of worship, of all faiths and denominations, to apply for a grant up to the equivalent sum of any VAT payments made on repair and renovation work to their buildings.

The local economic and wellbeing benefits received in return for this investment in churches is massive. The House of Good report, produced by London-based charity The National Churches Trust using the UK Treasury’s Green Book, suggests that for every £1 granted to a church that investment produces a social and wellbeing return to its local community valued at £16.

Following the omission of the scheme in the new chancellor’s first Autumn statement, there was considerable concern within the heritage sector and faith groups that it faced being scrapped altogether. Several heritage bodies and denominations encouraged members and stakeholders to write to Lisa Nandy, the UK Culture Secretary, and their local Westminster MPs to raise their concerns and fervent hope that it continues.

For volunteers to find an extra 20% to repair these buildings on top of the significant sums they are already trying to raise to restore these vital buildings, is a mammoth

and unwelcome burden which will inevitable accelerate the closure of many more buildings. A 2019 report on the LPWGS noted that 79% of respondents said their repairs would simply not have been completed at all or would have been considerably delayed without this funding.

In 2022-23, the last figures that are publicly available, 293 Scottish churches benefited to the tune of £2,073,047.67 (an average of £7,075.25 per church though some got only a few hundred pounds and at least two received almost £200k). Such was our alarm at the potential shortfall of £2m investment in Scottish listed buildings, our director and trust chairperson also raised the issue last month with Angus Robertson MSP, the Scottish Culture Secretary, when they met with him to discuss the wider ongoing crisis afflicting Scotland’s religious built heritage. Mr Robertson promised to take the matter up with Ms Nandy at the earliest opportunity.

Naturally, we were very interested to learn that there would be a debate in Westminster Hall last week about the future of LPFWGS. We hoped it might better illustrate to officials and politicians within the UK Treasury and the DCMS just how important the LPWGS is to the financial and wellbeing economy of the British Isles. Unfortunately, the debate was scheduled to conclude at exactly the same time as the monthly Scottish Questions in the main Westminster debating chamber, meaning no Scottish MPs were able to attend. Nevertheless, the 

discussion from English, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs provided a useful insight into the enormous value that this government investment in places of worship delivers to local communities across the British Isles.

At the end of the debate Sir Chris Bryant MP, Minister of State at the DCMS, revealed the welcome news that scheme has been extended for at least one more year, along with the somewhat less welcome update that its overall budget had been reduced and that a cap of £25,000 had been set on individual applications. 

In response, the General Trustees of the Church of Scotland have urged their congregations “to submit early applications for funding”. The vice-convener of the General Trustees, Rev Scott Rennie, added that “it is disappointing and worrying that the budget has been drastically cut” which suggests to him and his colleagues that “it is likely that not all applications for funding will be successful.”

We agree that early submission to the scheme is now vitally important and encourage any Scottish listed place of worship that is planning to deliver and complete a repair or renovation project on their building in the coming year to submit their claim to the scheme as soon as possible.

The Treasury has also clarified that where repairs to a listed place of worship’s VAT costs exceed the cap, they will still be able to apply for a grant up to £25,000. While the new cap will now require significantly more fundraising activities to take place for those larger projects, it is still important to note that this allowance may still be reclaimed. 

What else can be done? Well, this remains a Westminster matter, so we would encourage you to write to your local MP and explain how vitally important this scheme is and why it needs to continue beyond 2026. You could also invite them along to your church to see first-hand the vital outreach work that your congregation provides and the positive benefits your church bring to your community. You might also encourage them to consider supporting a private members bill set for its second reading at the end of March which would permanently exempt Listed Places of Worship from paying VAT on repairs. You could also respond to this short consultation from the DCMS asking for submissions on the importance of built heritage to local communities (deadline 3rd Feb).

In the meantime, good luck with your ongoing fundraising efforts, particularly if you were affected by last week’s Storm Éowyn as the beautiful Gothic 1847 William Spence church in Arrochar, Argyll sadly was. 

We send our member churches monthly updates that include all available funding opportunities that we can identify. If you aren’t already a member, do join here