MORE than 100 Anglican churches and cathedrals are engaged in constructing projects that may exceed the £25,000 cap on the Government’s Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme (News, 24 January) and are in progress or resulting from begin this yr, it has been reported this week.
The figures were gathered by Church House, from replies to a knowledge request sent to each diocese and cathedral. (Replies were received from 34 and 18 respectively.)
The estimated value of works resulting from begin this yr or early in 2026 is £163 million. At least 38 churches and cathedrals are undertaking works valued at greater than £2 million, attracting VAT of at the very least £400,000. A complete of 41 are undertaking multi-year projects, which can depend on a long-term funding solution from the Scheme; 43 are in receipt of National Lottery Heritage Fund funding.
Many of the projects are in deprived areas. Blackburn Cathedral is currently engaged in a relighting project designed to handle health-and-safety and energy-efficiency issues, and expected to cost £400,000.
The Labour MP for York Central, Rachael Maskell, told MPs last month that St Michael-le-Belfrey, York was set to lose out to the tune of £1.5 million, “though it has done all the things that was expected of it”.
“Our historic churches and cathedrals are a precious inheritance for the nation in so some ways — culturally, socially, and spiritually,” the co-lead bishop for church buildings, the Bishop of Ramsbury, Dr Andrew Rumsey, said on Tuesday. The cap “brings deep concern to churches and cathedrals already committed to larger, long-planned and locally fund-raised repair projects, with works already under way or soon to start out”, he said.
“Such churches now need to boost considerably more funds from already stretched communities, especially in deprived areas where social outreach from churches offers a lifeline. We are grateful for the Government’s recent recognition of churches’ contribution to the common good and request that that is demonstrated within the everlasting reinstatement of the Scheme at its former level.”
The Second Church Estates Commissioner, Marsha De Cordova MP, told the House of Commons last month that it was “vital that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) comes up with an answer to be sure that the Listed Places of Worship Scheme can proceed”. The Conservative MP for Christchurch, Sir Christopher Chope, has tabled a Private Members’ Bill to make repairs to listed places of worship exempt from VAT.
Not only have grants been capped, however the scheme has been prolonged for one yr only and capped in total at £23 million. The Minister for Creative Industries, Arts and Tourism, Sir Chris Bryant, told the House of Commons this month that the one-year commitment reflected a desire to slot in with the Government’s spending-review process, which is about to happen this spring and to cover a three-year period. Analysis suggested that 94 per cent of bids were for lower than £25,000, he said. “Obviously, if multiple schemes are engaged, people could make multiple claims. Any claims which might be received up until the tip of this financial yr are, in fact, not subject to that cap.”
The national Church Buildings Team is encouraging people in churches affected to boost the problem with their MP. The Church’s parliamentary team has already written to greater than 240 MPs whose constituencies include churches affected by the change. The team can also be encouraging people to finish a DCMS survey concerning the scheme (News, 7 March). The deadline for doing so is Tuesday 25 March.
