18 June 2018
Places of Worship Security Funding Scheme Opens for England and Wales
The Home Office is providing a further £1 million in funding to support places of worship in England and Wales that have been subjected to or could be vulnerable to hate crime attacks.
For a third year in a row, the Home Office is providing funding to help places of worship tackle hate crimes against them through the installation of additional security equipment.
Hate crimes, for the purposes of this fund, are defined as any crimes committed against a person because of their real or perceived religion.
The criteria for this year’s bids has been made more flexible – bidders will need to provide evidence that they are either vulnerable to hate crime or have been subject to a hate crime within the last two years.
The funding is available to churches, gurdwaras, mosques, and temples, but not for synagogues, as a similar commitment was made to fund Jewish community sites through a grant administered by the Community Security Trust.
There is a total funding pot of £1 million for this round. Grants of up to £56,000 per place of worship are available for projects costing up to £70,000.
The funding is to be used for the cost of additional security equipment. Match funding of at least 20% of the total project costs is required.
Examples of security equipment that can be applied for include, but are not limited to, the following:
- CCTV
- Perimeter fencing.
- Access control gates.
- Bollards
- Door locks.
- Window locks.
- Intruder alarm.
- External lighting.
- Security doors.
Funding is also available to pay the appropriate labour cost to install the security equipment.
All funded work must be completed by 31 March 2019.
Commenting on the new round, Minister for Countering Extremism, Baroness Williams said:
“This scheme has already helped many places of worship bolster their security and we encourage those who have suffered from or fear hate crime attacks to apply.”
The deadline for applications is 10 August 2018.