Organisations in the heritage sector welcomed January’s news that the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport was going to invest £1.5 billion in capital funding for the arts, cultural, and heritage sectors in England (the other three home nations have yet to say whether they will be making similar investments). Once the details began to be assessed, however, doubts and concerns started to creep in.
In particular, the new £92 million Places of Worship Renewal Fund looks generous – at first sight. In reality, this is not new money, but a replacement for the UK-wide Listed Places of Worship Grant scheme which, since 2001, has enabled some 13,000 religious buildings to reclaim the VAT levied on fabric repairs.
Last year, the Government announced that the scheme would cease on 31 March 2026, and for the final year claims were capped at £125,000 per place of worship, with a total budget for the year of £23 million – a reduction of 20% on the previous decade’s average rebate of £29.7 million a year. Some 6% of the repair schemes that were already under way suddenly had to find an additional 20% for works in excess of £125,000 – not an easy task when raising funds can take years of effort.
