As congregations continue to dwindle and costs continue to rise, an increasing number of churches are falling into a sad state of disrepair.

But now, thanks to grant funding which is being made available by the National Churches Trust, 2023, small, medium and large sized grants are available for maintenance projects and urgent repairs.

The closing date for applications is October 31 (small grants), December 11 (medium grants) and November 7 for large grants, so any churches that are in need of financial aid are being urged to get their requests in as soon as possible.

The grants are available to any Christian place of worship in the UK that remains open for regular worship, with the aim of helping to keep the church buildings in good repair, open for worship and community activities, and allow them to continue to serve people, communities and visitors in all sorts of different ways.

Grants could cover things like roof repairs, kitchen installation, accessible toilets, asbestos clearing or simply basic but essential maintenance.

Small grants, which range from £500 to £5,000 are for maintenance while medium grants, which range from £3,000 to £10,000, are for urgent and essential maintenance and repair projects which will cost the church or chapel between £20,000 and £80,000.

The large sized grants can be up to £50,000. These are for major installation and urgent repair projects, however the grants will never exceed 50 per cent of the project cost.

Since 2007, the National Churches Trust has helped keep open and maintain a total of 2,000 churches and chapels, while 14 of those were removed from the Heritage at Risk register as a result of the grants. A total of £5.2m was awarded by the Trust in 2021.

For further information on the grants which are available or to submit an application, visit the National Churches Trust website.