The Places of Worship Renewal Fund (PWRF) is designed to support the repair of England’s treasured places of worship and targeted at places of most need. A total of £92 million has been allocated to the fund over a 4-year period, with £23 million per annum.
What are these grants for?
The Places of Worship Renewal Fund supports urgent repairs and essential improvements to listed places of worship in England.
Grants ranging from £10,000 to £1,000,000 will be awarded for capital works that keep buildings safe, open and in public use.
Any listed place of worship in England can apply, of any faith or denomination, provided it is an active place of worship.
Priority will be given to projects in areas of England with the greatest need for investment, and those that bring most community benefit. More information on how to find out if your project is in one of these areas and how the funding will be prioritised is provided in the FAQ section below.
In order to support different sizes of project, the fund will be divided into 3 streams. These are:
- £10,000 to £50,000 (small grants)
- £50,001 to £350,000 (medium grants)
- £350,001 to £1,000,000 (large grants)
The fund is competitive, and not all applications will be successful. The full requirements of the fund are set out below and provide detail on the priorities, objectives, and criteria that all applications will be assessed against.
How to apply
For this fund we ask all applicants to complete an expression of interest (EOI). If your EOI is successful, you’ll be invited to make a full application.
The deadline for submitting EOIs for the first round of grants is Sunday 14 June, 2026. A second round will follow soon after in September 2026.
To submit an EOI, you need to fill in our online form. See our guidance on How to Complete an Expression of Interest.
You’ll also need to refer to the Places of Worship Renewal Fund requirements below. In the EOI form, we’ll ask you to briefly describe how your project meets these.
You will need to provide enough information at EOI stage to enable Historic England to consider the need for your project. If your project is not yet sufficiently developed you may wish to delay your EOI and apply in a later round.
If you need help deciding if you’re ready to submit an EOI, contact your local office. See the FAQ section below for how to get in touch.
More information and the link to submit an Expression of Interest is here
Further information
The Places of Worship Renewal Fund was announced in January 2026 and is funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and delivered by Historic England.
The fund applies to England only. If you are seeking funding from elsewhere in the UK, we recommend looking to other funders such as The National Lottery Heritage Fund whose grants are open to all types of heritage including places of worship of all faiths and denominations. Please see The National Lottery Heritage Fund: what we fund