£28 million funding will help keep places of worship safe

Protective security measures for Places of Worship – open for applications

The government has announced that places of worship will receive £28 million in government funding to help keep them and their attendees safe. The funding is available this year through two schemes, with applications now open.

The funding is part of the government’s commitment to ensure that faith communities in England and Wales are protected from the threat of hate crime and terror attacks and can practise their faith freely and without fear.

The Home Office will provide funding for physical protective security, such as CCTV, intruder alarms and secure fencing, to be installed in order to help protect mosques, churches, temples, gurdwaras and other places of worship. Mosques will also be able to access a new security guarding scheme later in the year.

To apply for funding, applicants should submit evidence of their vulnerability and experience of hate crime. The application window is open until 15 August, and the Home Office will notify successful sites from November 2023.

The types of places of worship that can apply under the schemes include (but are not limited to):

• churches
• gurdwaras
• mosques
• temples
• associated faith community centres (for example, a community centre where regular worship takes place that is near a place of worship and run by that place of worship)

Cannot accept applications for the following:

• living accommodation
• educational facilities (faith schools and other educational institutions are not eligible)
• NHS establishments, including chapels and prayer rooms
• other buildings that are owned by the place of worship or faith community but not used for regular worship (for example, cafes, education centres, youth centres, etc). Where these structures exist within the place of worship or on the same site, the schemes can only cover protection of places that are regularly used for worship