Successor to the VAT reclaim scheme will be competitive and much more bureaucratic.
A new Places of Worship Fund has been allocated £23m of funding this year but frozen for the next three years.
It replaces the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, which successfully ran for 25 years until March 31 and enabled VAT to be reclaimed.
Applications must now be made in a competitive process for a slice of funding, which will be decided by Historic England, and partly based on a national scale of “deprivation sensitivity.”
In its place, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, has devised the Places of Worship Renewal Fund, which will be broadly split into three streams for England. Grants will be made of between £10k and £50k; medium £50k to £350k and then up to £1m.
The first deadline to register an “expression of interest” will be Sunday, June 14 and then a further application period in mid-September.
There are also two other funds – Heritage at Risk with up to £15m and Heritage Revival of up to £10m.
Heritage Minister Baroness Twycross said: “This targeted funding is an important step in keeping the roofs water-tight and doors wide open at churches, and for bringing historic buildings back into use for the communities who care for them.”
The Bishop of Lynn, Dr Jane Steen, the Church of England’s joint lead bishop for buildings, said: “The Places of Worship Renewal Fund has a vital part to play alongside this local fundraising, and other funders who support churches.
“We welcome the launch of the Fund and we look forward to working closely with Historic England, in helping encourage eligible churches to make full use of the scheme.”
Applicants can submit expressions of interest through Historic England’s website.
Michael Pollitt, vice-chairman of the Round Tower Churches Society, said that scrapping the highly successful long-running VAT reclaim scheme made little sense. Even the DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) recognised that the former scheme was highly effective, efficient and delivered results.
“Instead, it has created a competitive, costly and bureaucratic new scheme. And why has the Government refused to impose a zero VAT on repairs to churches?
As churches struggle to raise extra cash to pay 20pc VAT for vital repairs, this is a nonsense. As the Society has highlighted: Build a new house, no VAT. Repair a medieval church, 20pc VAT, he said.
Maybe MPs might take note and ask that question of the Prime Minister, who incidentally has just hired former PM Gordon Brown, architect of the original LPWGS in 2001, as an adviser.
Photograph – Runhall Church has to raise about £7,000 to pay the extra 20 per cent VAT. Photograph, Michael Pollitt
