The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) is altering its funding structure for places of worship following a call to make financial access for such projects easier and more flexible.

From September 2017, the HLF’s Grants for Places of Worship programme will be retired and replaced by the body’s existing Our Heritage and Heritage Grants schemes, which offer funds of up to £100,000 (US$128,000, €118,000) and £5m (US$6.4m, €5.9m) respectively.

The move will create a faster single-stage application approach for projects worth up to £100,000, replacing a two stage process under the Grants for Places of Worship scheme. It will also open up religious applications, allowing for a wider range of activities and capital works than under the current programme.

For the larger £5m scheme, more money will be available for individual places of worship as previously, the Places of Worship fund capped applications at £250,000 (US$320,000, €295,000).

“Time and resource-stretched congregations have been telling us that they want to access our funding more easily, so we are bringing in a more flexible and lighter-touch way of distributing much-needed funding support from the National Lottery,” said the HLF.

“Places of worship are among the oldest and most cherished buildings in the UK and we are fully committed to supporting them. This year we will spend a guaranteed £20m minimum on places of worship and it is likely to be far more than this.

"If places of worship continue to apply for National Lottery funding at similar levels, we fully expect to spend equivalent amounts in subsequent years, in proportion to our total grants budget.”