Help us ensure that our most important architectural treasures remain open for future generations by contacting your MP to ask them to write to directly to Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for the Department for Culture Media and Sport, to urge her to renew the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme.
Help us ensure that our most important architectural treasures remain open for future generations by contacting your MP to ask them to attend a debate in Parliament on Wednesday 22 January to support the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. We know that many people have already written to their MPs about this vitally important topic and we hope you will write to them again using this tool below.
Since 2001 the Listed Places of Worship Grant (LPWGS) has enabled communities which care for our historic churches and other listed places of worship to reclaim VAT on repair works. Thousands of volunteers across the UK care for our churches – sacred spaces where we celebrate all of life’s most important moments, but also places that promise beauty, community, and a variety of increasingly essential services such as homeless shelters and food banks.
The grant scheme comes up for renewal in March 2025, and we are calling on people to write to their local MP to alert them to the potential threat of closure of the scheme, and the disastrous impact this would have on historic churches. Without this scheme, many historic and architecturally important buildings will be at risk of closure.
Securing the continuation of the LPWGS will ensure that our churches remain open and accessible for present communities and future generations. We are asking that the government extends the scheme, ensuring a sustainable future for these buildings. The decision whether to renew the LPWGS is now with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and it is likely that a decision will be made soon. A DCMS Minister will respond to the debate on Wednesday 22nd January which is why it is vital that MPs express their support for the LPWGS.
We are now asking you to encourage your MP to attend the debate in Westminster Hall on Wednesday 22 January. You can do this by simply entering your postcode and following the subsequent steps below. It is possible to edit your response before sending it, so if you would like to include information on your church and your local area, please feel free to do so.
