On January 22nd, the government announced changes to the Listed Places of Worship Grants Scheme that will come into effect on April 1st 2025 and will have a profound impact on around 200 planned and existing development projects.
The change announced in January is to cap the amount of VAT which can be reclaimed to £25,000 per building. The scheme has been extended for one year, but given the multi-year nature of fundraising for projects and complex grant application processes, alongside the years it can take to deliver building work, the one-year extension gives no long-term assurance to enable grants to be applied for or for churches to commit to work that needs to be done.
Richard Fuller MP said:
The change to the scheme also fails to recognise that projects already started will also be affected and, despite starting and funding a project under one form of rules will now have to potentially find an additional 20% of funding to cover the fact that VAT from the 1st April will not be recoverable for projects worth more than £125,000. This fails to recognise the many big schemes to reroof or reorganise a church, usually phased over months or years and cost hundreds of thousands, if not millions of pounds to deliver.
The Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) still refuses to publish guidance about how the new scheme will operate from 1st April 2025 to 31 March 2026. Without this detail, churches and other religious communities are unable to commission new projects, continue with work already underway as they do not know if they will have to find an extra 20% extra funding.
The type of schemes affected are often designed to increase access, improve facilities and provide community spaces, enabling the parishes to continue to support the people in their communities in greatest need.
DCMS launched a consultation after their announcement on 22nd January, although the consultation and impact assessment should have been conducted before the decision to cut the scheme was taken. I would encourage anyone involved with the scheme to have their say by 25th March.
You can find the consultation, and make your views known by the end of 25th March at the website here;
