Places of Worship (POW): Protective Security Funding Scheme

Places of Worship (POW): Protective Security Funding Scheme – Government Webinar

Faith Associates through its Mosque Security Project and Lancashire Council of Mosques hosted the Home Office (Government) to provide a webinar to Mosque leaders on the proposed PROTECT Duty legislation and its potential impact on Mosques, Madrassahs and Islamic Centres across the UK. There was also a presentation on the Places of Worship funding scheme, providing financial support to institutions that have been subjected to hate crime and want to improve their security measures. Watch the video below for information on the Protective security funding scheme.

Overview of the scheme

The places of worship (PoW) protective security funding scheme is a government commitment in the 2016-2020 hate crime action plan. This scheme is intended to reduce the risk and impact of hate crime at places of worship and associated faith community centres.

The scheme provides funding for protective security measures, such as CCTV, fencing, and intruder alarms, to places of worship and associated faith community centres that are vulnerable to hate crime.

The scheme is open to all faiths, apart from the Jewish community. The Jewish community are not eligible for funding from this scheme as a separate commitment was made to fund security measures at Jewish community sites through a grant administered by the Community Security Trust.

You can submit an application for the installation of up to 3 protective security measures from 4 June until 23:59 on 2 July 2021. We will not consider any applications received after this date.

The maximum government funding available to any place of worship or associated faith community centre is £56,000 for the installation of the protective security measures. However, this does not include any costs associated with planning permissions or consents, and does not cover any prepatory work identified at survey stage to facilitate installation (such as clearing the grounds).

The scheme only covers protective security measures and cannot be used to fund:

general building improvements
standard security upgrades
measures to tackle anti-social behaviour, lead theft, or other criminality unconnected with hate crime
security personnel/guarding
measures which have already been provided by third party installers

Following an open competition, Esotec Limited, has been appointed to be the single provider responsible for conducting site assessments, quotes and installations of all security measures funded under this scheme. All measures under the scheme must be completed and delivered by 31 March 2022. Therefore, all successful applicants will need to commit to participating fully and promptly. If an applicant does not commit fully, the offer of installation may be withdrawn.

Please read through this guidance thoroughly before making an application, and check regularly for any updates to the scheme.

Who can apply?

The scheme is open to all faiths, except the Jewish community, who have experienced hate crime and/or feel that that they are vulnerable to hate crime at their place of worship. The application must be made on behalf of your places of worship and/or associated faith community centre, and your site must be in either England or Wales. Below are some examples of those eligible to apply for the funding, but this is not an exhaustive list:

churches
gurdwaras
mosques
temples
associated faith community centres (we define this as a community centre run by a place of worship or near a place of worship that is faith based, and where regular worship takes place)

The scheme does not cover the following:

living accommodation
educational facilities (faith schools and educational institutions are not eligible
NHS establishments including chapels and prayer rooms
other separate buildings not used for regular worship (where these structures exist within the same building or site as the place of worship, only the protection of the place of worship will be considered)

Places of worship that have received funding from the scheme in 2019 or 2020 and had security measures installed cannot apply, unless their circumstances have substantially changed. If you received funding from the scheme before 2019, or have previously applied to the scheme but your application was unsuccessful, you are able to apply this year.