THE Government has said again that 94 per cent of claims on building projects under its Listed Places of Worship Grant (LPWG) Scheme would be unaffected by the new £25,000 cap on VAT exemption, and that areas of deprivation and low economic activity would continue to benefit (News, 21 March).
The Conservative MP Rebecca Smith had asked the Government whether consideration had been given to the potential impact of the changes on those areas, and on projects already started or due to begin shortly.
In a written answer on Monday, the Secretary of State for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Chris Bryant, confirmed that the DCMS had “received advice” on the effects of the cap, announced in January. The assessment has not been published.
St Michael-le-Belfrey, York, is set to fall short by £1.4 million on its £12-million repair and renewal project, Impact. The £8.4-million building phase began in August 2024. It continues to lobby for exemption.
The new cap applies from 1 April. The short notice had been the biggest blow, the Impact project manager, Gillian Shepherd, said on Tuesday. “If they’d said this was going to come in next year, that would still have been a blow, but the churches could have planned for it and worked it into the budget.
“We worked so hard on our financial forecast, and on the value-engineering exercise before construction. We appreciate that the Government has been facing a massive choice after the Budget, and there has been sympathy for our point of view, but they are taking a very hard line on this.”
The St Michael-le-Belfrey project combines repairs to the medieval building with the introduction of accessible and flexible space, updated facilities, and sustainable heating. Its website describes Impact as “one of the most radical and beautiful transformations of a Grade I listed building, to deliver a far better equipped church for generations to come. . . We will offer a more welcoming space that supports social action, improves our visitor experience, and provides a medium-sized venue for the city.”
The worst-case scenario, if St Michael’s was unable to meet the shortfall, would be an incomplete building — an outcome that nobody would want, Ms Shepherd said.
“Next, we’d have to ask what . . . do we decide we don’t do? By taking some of those out, we would see a reduction in our social transformation, and less capacity to welcome worshippers.”
Social transformation has been a key element of the project. Over the past three years, the church has joined with Christians Against Poverty (CAP) to offer support and counselling services, opened a foodbank, recently recruited a mental-health nurse, and has been working with vulnerable families and communities, and with homelessness charities, around the city. It also hopes to become a more interactive visitor attraction to boost the local economy.
The bill for the project includes the cost of moving from the building while work is under way, leasing the De Grey Rooms near by as a temporary venue. Giving from the congregation had been part of the fund-raising, Ms Shepherd said.
She praised the “phenomenal support” of the Labour and Co-operative MP for York Central, Rachel Maskell, who sponsored the CAP exemption motion tabled on 27 February. Supporters are being urged to lobby their MPs, as well as Mr Bryant and the Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, before the 1 April deadline, with the following message:
“If the £25k cap is imposed, York could be left with a visible building site, a reduced social transformation programme, fewer opportunities to share the Christian faith, a smaller leadership development programme, and removal of a key city-centre visitor attraction. The impact is therefore spiritual, social and economic across the city and the wider region.”
