AHEAD of Rachel Reeves’s Autumn Budget on Wednesday, the Archbishop of York has urged the Government to make the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme (LPWGS) “everlasting” and to “lift the cap on claims”.
The Department of Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) announced in January that the grant scheme, which allows for individual places of worship to reclaim VAT on essential repair and maintenance costs, could be prolonged just for one 12 months and capped at £23 million, and that individual sites could be eligible for a maximum of £25,000 (News, 24 January).
“The overwhelming majority of fundraising for our churches is completed locally by heroic volunteers and we’re deeply grateful for all they do. For greater than 20 years, they’ve relied on the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme to offer that crucial bit of additional help,” Archbishop Cottrell said in an announcement issued on Saturday.
“This is a comparatively small investment by the Government in buildings which might be estimated to have an enormous social value. We urge the Government to make the scheme everlasting and lift the cap on claims.”
Churches, he said, were “at the center of our communities — not only as places of worship, but as spaces of warm welcome, history, and hope”.
At the identical time, Church House published findings from a survey, conducted by Savanta earlier this month, which examines the general public’s relationship with church buildings.
Of the 2018 UK adults polled, 59 per cent agreed that “the Government should help with the price of repairing and maintaining historic churches.” A greater proportion of 25- to 34-year-olds agreed with this statement (71 per cent) than those aged 65 and over (49 per cent).
Most people — 77 per cent of those surveyed — agreed with the statement: “Historic cathedrals and churches are local and national treasures.”
More than three-quarters of 25- to 34-year-olds (76 per cent) agreed that “the local church contributes positively to my community” — in comparison with 53 per cent of each 18- to 24-year-olds and people aged 65 and above. More men than women (64 per cent vs 59 per cent) agreed with this statement.
Similarly, those aged 25 to 34 were more likely than all other age groups to agree that “the Church is a crucial a part of British society” and that “Churches provide something special” (74 per cent).
In total, 41 per cent said that that they had visited a church or cathedral “simply to seek out a quiet space for reflection or prayer”. Those aged 18-34 (50 per cent) were more likely than those aged 35-54 (43 per cent) or 55 and over (33 per cent) to have done so.
Of those that said that they had contact with their local church (43 per cent), 16 per cent said that this was “through a bunch, resembling toddler group or lunch club”, nine per cent “through a food bank”, and 53 per cent “attending services/worship”.
Archbishop Cottrell said that a whole lot of churches had signed up to offer Warm Spaces, providing help to people struggling to afford energy bills. “In some areas they’re the one public buildings where people can come and gather together,” he said.
The Bishop of Ramsbury, the Rt Revd Andrew Rumsey, who’s the lead bishop for church buildings, said that the outcomes affirmed the high value the British people placed on church buildings as places of service, sanctuary and heritage. “Their broad appeal and vital role in social welfare underline the case for Governmental support in the shape of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, which we urgently must proceed beyond the top of the present interim scheme in March 2026,” he said.
The Dean of St Albans, the Very Revd Jo Kelly-Moore, who chairs the Association of English Cathedrals, said that scrapping the scheme would have a “hugely negative impact on our cathedrals, lots of which have long-term repair and renewal projects costing a whole lot of 1000’s of kilos. . . And yet these buildings, because the survey found, are our nation’s treasure houses. They stand strong at the center of the nation at times of national sorrow and national celebration and offer a welcome in any respect times to people of all faiths and none.”
