Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme ending April 2011
The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme is ending in April 2011.
The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, which enables listed places of worship to claim back 100 per cent of VAT incurred on repairs and maintenance to the building, professional fees and repair works to fixtures such as bells and organs, is ending in April 2011.
This Scheme has provided great relief to places of worship faced with raising enormous sums for maintenance and repair, and has enabled those who look after these valuable heritage and community buildings to maintain them for future generations. Over £102 million has been paid out to places of worship across the United Kingdom since 2001 through the Scheme, of which about 93 per cent has gone to Church of England churches.
This grant scheme was introduced by Gordon Brown, when Chancellor of the Exchequer, in April 2001 as an interim measure while the European Union was holding a review of the Directive covering VAT rates. Although a reduced VAT rate has not yet been agreed with Europe, the Scheme is due to come to an end in March 2011, along with the Memorial Grant Scheme.
There is now a sample letter on www.churchcare.co.uk which we want to encourage many people as possible to send to their MP.
There is also a Downing Street Petition. Again, please encourage everyone to sign - http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/VAT-refundscheme/ The deadline is 29th August 2010. You may remember the Water Charging petition did extremely well and ended up in the top three in terms of numbers of signatures during its last months.
