AT THE beginning of last year, the Government announced that its Listed Places of Worship Grant (LPWG) Scheme would be extended for just one year more and capped at £23 million (News, 22 January 2025). This was a blow, if not an unexpected one, given the oft-rehearsed squeeze on the public purse. The scheme, launched in 2001 under a Labour Chancellor and extended by every government since, allowed listed churches to reclaim VAT on repairs. It was popular: figures from 2024 show that almost 5000 churches received a grant that year. As the Archbishop of York said in a heartfelt plea for the scheme to be extended (News, 23 October 2025), it had provided an essential lifeline for churches for 25 years. Many hoped that the Chancellor would offer a reprieve for the LPWG in her Autumn Budget last year. Instead, a new scheme — the Places of Worship Renewal Fund — was announced in January as part of a much larger award to protect and preserve heritage buildings (News, 23 January).
The new fund is worth £92 million over four years — similar to the 2025-26 figure, but considerably less than the £42 million granted in 2024-25. Crucially, the new scheme will no longer allow for individual places of worship to reclaim VAT on bills for essential repair and maintenance. Last summer, we reported that almost three-quarters of the £23 million for 2025-26 was still available (News, 22 August 2025). At the time, data collected by Church House suggested that more than 100 Church of England churches and cathedrals were engaged in building projects, and that many of these were planned to take place over several years. Given the numbers, it is perhaps unsurprising that the money has already run out even before the scheme comes to an end after next month. Anyone responsible for church repairs will have been keeping a close eye on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s progress tracker, and doing everything possible to fast-track their application.
The news of the sudden rush for grants is unsurprising, but unwelcome all the same. As the National Churches Trust (NCT) has pointed out, there is no clarity about the way in which the new scheme will operate. This is a precarious period of limbo. Almost 1000 churches are on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register, and an estimated one in 20 in the UK needs new roofing or guttering this year. The NCT has called for the new scheme to be “simple, accessible, and predictable”. It also needs to be so agile that urgent repair works after adverse weather do not get bogged down by paperwork. What will emerge remains to be seen. Our readers are familiar with the value of their parish churches. They must indeed hope that the decision-makers in the Government acknowledge that this is not only about cultural heritage, important though that is, but also about the social benefits of these buildings. If churches fall into such disrepair that they cannot be used for the many activities that take place in them, the loss to their communities will be grievous.
