MORE than 100 Anglican churches and cathedrals are engaged in building projects that will exceed the £25,000 cap on the Government’s Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme (News, 24 January) and are in progress or due to begin this year, it has been reported this week.
The figures were gathered by Church House, from replies to a data request sent to every diocese and cathedral. (Replies were received from 34 and 18 respectively.)
The estimated value of works due to begin this year or early in 2026 is £163 million. At least 38 churches and cathedrals are undertaking works valued at more than £2 million, attracting VAT of at least £400,000. A total of 41 are undertaking multi-year projects, which will rely on a long-term funding solution from the Scheme; 43 are in receipt of National Lottery Heritage Fund funding.
The Dean of Exeter, the Very Revd Jonathan Greener, said this week: “Funding the preservation of our heritage has become more difficult every year that I have been a Dean (since 2007); so the £25,000 cap for the coming year is a real blow — especially for ancient buildings like ours that already have major works underway. There remains much to be done to put the cathedral in good order, and it is extremely difficult to plan or have the confidence to proceed with any future project without knowing the longer term future of the scheme.
“I dearly hope the Secretary of State will reconsider her approach to this scheme: what for the Government is a relatively small amount of money has a hugely positive impact on preserving such an important part of our nation’s heritage.”
Many of the projects are in deprived areas. Blackburn Cathedral is currently engaged in a relighting project designed to address 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, “even though it has done everything that was expected of it”.
The co-lead bishop for church buildings, the Bishop of Ramsbury, Dr Andrew Rumsey, said on Tuesday: “Our historic churches and cathedrals are a precious inheritance for the nation in so many ways — culturally, socially, and spiritually.” The cap, he said, “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.
“Such churches now need to raise 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 this is demonstrated in the permanent reinstatement of the Scheme at its former level.”
The Team Vicar of St Helen’s benefice in Liverpool, the Revd Rachel Shuttleworth, said that the cap would affect the large building project underway at St Helen’s Parish Church. “We are in a post-industrial northern town, with very limited reserves and funding open to us locally,” she said. “We are applying for grants as we believe the building work is needed and missional, but as a religious building and organisation grants are, on occasion, not open to us.” There are hopes that the church will become a Minster.
The Priest-in-Charge of St Cuthbert’s, Darlington, the Revd James Harvey, said that his church was “significantly impacted” by the cap. A £2-million project is expected to begin in the 2025-26 financial year, and the LPWG Scheme would have provided more than £250,000 towards it. The project has now had to be put on hold until this money can be sourced from elsewhere, he said. The “Opening Doors” project, which aims to make the church a “vibrant hub of activity and spirituality”, includes creating level access, and enhancing the facilities with toilets, a multi-use meeting space, a café, and new lighting and audio-visual systems.
Nigel Vince, the PCC Treasurer at St Philip and St James, Ilfracombe, said that the cap would cause “devastation” to communities. The church, situated on the seafront of Ilfracombe, was “exposed and battered by the Atlantic storms; as a result, it costs a lot of money to keep it weather tight and structurally sound.”
Water had, for several years, been streaming down the inside of the west wall, he said, which had a large stained-glass window. Contractors were due to begin renovations on the estimated £600,000 project at the end of the month. “How do we raise another £120,000 for VAT, less the £25,000 of the next years grant?” he said. “This is placing a huge stain on church’s finances which are meagre.”
The town was one of the most socially deprived areas in Britain, he said. The church had “an ageing retired demographic with limited means” but was “active and growing, having almost doubled in participants in the past two years. Families are increasingly joining us, giving us the confidence to press ahead.”
The Second Church Estates Commissioner, Marsha De Cordova MP, told the House of Commons last month that it was “important that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) comes up with a solution to ensure that the Listed Places of Worship Scheme can continue”. 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, but the scheme has been extended for one year 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 fit in with the Government’s spending-review process, which is set to take place this spring and to cover a three-year period. Analysis suggested that 94 per cent of bids were for less than £25,000, he said. “Obviously, if multiple schemes are engaged, people can make multiple claims. Any claims that are received up until the end of this financial year are, of course, not subject to that cap.”
The national Church Buildings Team is encouraging people in churches affected to raise the issue with their MP. The Church’s parliamentary team has already written to more than 240 MPs whose constituencies include churches affected by the change. The team is also encouraging people to complete a DCMS survey about the scheme (News, 7 March). The deadline for doing so is Tuesday 25 March.
The deadline for submitting claims under the current scheme is 31 March. After that, the cap of £25,000 comes into force regardless of when a project began.
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