Guidance

Protective security schemes for places of worship

How to apply for security funding to protect your place of worship against hate crime.

Overview of the schemes

In 2023 and 2024, the Home Office is continuing to provide protective security measures to places of worship under two schemes:

  • Places of Worship Protective Security Funding Scheme
  • Protective Security for Mosques Scheme

The schemes provide funding for places of worship and associated faith community centres that are vulnerable to hate crime. These schemes aim to reduce hate crime happening at places of worship so that people can feel safe to attend worship and practise their religion freely.

Through these schemes, vulnerable places of worship can apply for physical protective security measures, such as CCTV, secure fencing, and intruder alarms.

Applicants to the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme are also able to apply for security guarding services. Further information is provided below.

The application process for the Places of Worship Protective Security Funding Scheme was open from 21 June 2023 until 5 September 2023. The application process for the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme is open until 18 February 2024. We cannot consider any applications received after this date.

For places of worship that are successful in applying to the schemes, security measures will be provided and installed free of charge. This includes any maintenance costs for one year from the installation date (such as for CCTV or for monitored intruder alarm systems).

However, you should be aware that the Home Office cannot fund any additional costs that might result from measures being installed, such as the cost of applying for planning permission or any preparatory work needed (such as ground clearance).

We will confirm the number and type of measures that we are able to provide following your site survey and a final review by the Home Office.

Esotec Limited is the Home Office’s delivery partner for physical protective security measures and will be the main point of contact for places of worship who are successful in going forward to the site survey stage. The supplier of security guarding services will be announced later in the year. Successful applicants to the Protective Security for Mosques scheme who have applied for guarding services will be informed as soon as possible.

Who can apply

You should apply to the schemes:

  • if you have experienced hate crime at your place of worship, or
  • if you feel that your place of worship is vulnerable to hate crime; for example, if hate crime has happened at other places of worship or sites in your community, or if people attending your place of worship have experienced hate crime in the local area

The types of places of worship that can apply under the schemes include (but are not limited to):

  • churches
  • gurdwaras
  • mosques
  • temples
  • associated faith community centres (for example, a community centre where regular worship takes place that is near a place of worship and run by that place of worship)

Muslim places of worship and their associated faith community centres will be allocated to the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme. All other faiths, except the Jewish community, will be allocated to the Places of Worship Protective Security Funding Scheme. A separate funding scheme is available to provide security measures for the Jewish community.

We cannot accept applications for the following:

  • living accommodation
  • educational facilities (faith schools and other educational institutions are not eligible)
  • NHS establishments, including chapels and prayer rooms
  • other buildings that are owned by the place of worship or faith community but not used for regular worship (for example, cafes, education centres, youth centres, etc). Where these structures exist within the place of worship or on the same site, the schemes can only cover protection of places that are regularly used for worship

If your place of worship has received funding through the Places of Worship Protective Security Funding Scheme in 2021 to 2022 or 2022 to 2023, you may still apply. However, funding for places of worship that have received funding in the last two years will be at the discretion of the Home Office and will only be awarded where there is very strong evidence of an ongoing vulnerability to hate crime. This is to ensure that as many places of worship as possible are able to access funding for protective security measures.

If you represent a mosque that has received funding previously, we encourage you to apply for guarding services if you feel that security guarding would benefit your mosque and attending worshippers.

Charity status

Places of worship and associated faith community centres in England and Wales are normally charitable and required by law to register as charities if their income from all sources is over £5,000 a year. Some churches are currently excepted from registration.

If you are lawfully exempt, you will be required as part of your application to include a written confirmation of your exemption and the justification for your exemption. You must upload this written confirmation to the application form on your organisation’s letter headed paper.

If you are not registered as a charity and are not exempt, you will need to register with the Charity Commission before applying to the scheme.

If you would like advice and support on completing the application to register as a charity, are unsure about whether you need to register, or have any other queries about registering as a charity, please contact, faithoutreach@charitycommission.gov.uk.

What the schemes cover

The types of physical protective security measures available are listed below, but you do not need to decide which measures you would like to apply for now. If your application is successful, a survey of your place of worship will be carried out. During this site survey, Esotec Limited will discuss with you the most appropriate measures for your particular site, based on recommendations made to them by the police DOCO (Designing Out Crime Officer):

  • CCTV (fixed cameras, not pan-tilt cameras)
  • secure fencing and/or railings (no more than 2.1m high)
  • manually operated pedestrian and vehicle gates
  • door hardening, locks and mailbox / mail bag
  • reinforcing glazed windows (with anti-shatter film or bars/grilles only)
  • intruder alarms including integrated smoke/heat detection
  • door entry access control (fob or keypad)
  • video intercom systems
  • lighting (building mounted)

If your application is successful, the schemes will cover the cost of all security equipment (as agreed by Esotec Limited and the Home Office) and installation at your place of worship. However, the schemes cannot be used to fund:

  • required planning permission
  • general building improvements
  • standard security upgrades (for example, if measures installed under this scheme become outdated after a number of years)
  • measures to tackle anti-social behaviour, lead theft, or other criminality unconnected with hate crime

Muslim places of worship and their associated faith community centres are also eligible for security guarding services under the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme. Applicants can decide if they would prefer to apply for physical protective security measures or security guarding services only, or both. A similar site survey will be carried out for successful applicants to decide the most appropriate guarding regime for each location. The supplier of security guarding services will be announced later in the year.

Submitting an application

In order to submit a valid application, you will need to show that:

  • hate crimes or hate incidents have happened at your place of worship, or
  • hate crime has happened in your local area and you think there is a high chance that your place of worship could also be targeted

You will need to provide evidence that the community at your place of worship is vulnerable to the kind of hate crime that targets people because of their religion and race.

Any crime can be classed as a hate crime if the offender has demonstrated, or been motivated by, hostility based on:

  • race
  • religion
  • disability
  • sexual orientation
  • transgender identity

These schemes focus on hate crimes motivated by religion and race. Applicants should provide a detailed description of all hate crimes and incidents that your place of worship has experienced. If you feel that your place of worship is vulnerable to hate crime, but has not experienced any hate crime incidents directly, please provide:

  • details of the incidents that have happened in your local area
  • why you think your place of worship may also be the target of similar hate crime attacks

Please include details about how these incidents have affected worshippers in your community:

  • how did they make people feel?
  • were people frightened?
  • did people stop attending worship or other events at the site?

You may also provide supporting evidence with your application form. This could be photographs of damage or graffiti at your place of worship, police crime reports, or local newspaper reports. You can upload a maximum of 10 files of evidence in support of your application.

Here are some examples of the types of evidence we are looking for, but there may be other examples you would like to include:

  • photographs/reports of incidents at your place of worship/associated faith community centre or nearby
  • police reports of a hate crime or incident at your place of worship/associated faith community centre or nearby
  • a letter or email from your local police force confirming that your institution is in an area where there has been high incidence of religiously motivated hate crimes
  • evidence of particular tensions in the community e.g. from a local authority community coordinator
  • reports of experiences of hate crime or verbal abuse from worshippers at your place of worship/associated faith community centre
  • records and/or time and date logs of incidents that have occurred at your place of worship or associated community centre, or its nearby surroundings
  • a survey or consensus of people in your faith community showing how they feel about hate crimes that have happened at your place of worship or feelings of vulnerability about hate crime in your local community

To apply for funding through the Protective Security for Places of Worship scheme, you will need to complete the online application: Protective Security for Places of Worship scheme. To apply for funding through the Protective Security for Mosques scheme, you will need to complete the online application: Protective Security for Mosques scheme.

You can only submit one application for your place of worship/associated faith community centre. Duplicate applications will not be considered. If your place of worship and associated faith community centre are on the same site, you should still only submit one application.

The form can be saved at any stage. However, you must submit your application before the deadline.

The following information is required for the online application form:

  • name, faith, and address of your place of worship
  • name of contact and their details
  • charity number or letter on your organisation’s letter headed paper confirming if and why you are legally exempt from registering as a charity (you will be asked to upload the letter)
  • existing security measures at your site
  • details of any previous applications and the outcome

It’s important that you provide as much detail as you can about all hate crimes or incidents that have affected your place of worship and the people that worship there. When providing your evidence, consider:

1. How recently has the crime/incident occurred? 2. How frequently do you experience hate crimes/incidents? Have the crimes/incidents occurred over a period of time? 3. Can you identify the motivation behind the crimes/incidents? Have you been targeted specifically because of your faith? 4. What is the impact of the crime/incident on your community? How do they feel about incidents that have happened? Has it affected people coming to worship?

Application guidance

Your application is more likely to be successful if you:

  • provide clear evidence to explain how and why your place of worship and the people who worship there are vulnerable to hate crime
  • detail all hate crime incidents experienced at your place of worship and use clear evidence to show what happened wherever you can (for example, an applicant who has suffered hate graffiti should upload photos of the graffiti)
  • tell us about the impact of these incidents on worshippers, which could include reports from people who experienced or witnessed the hate crime explaining how the incident made them feel and how it has affected them (for example, whether it stopped them attending worship)

Applications in previous years that that were unsuccessful tended to only provide limited evidence and/or did not clarify why their place of worship was vulnerable to hate crime. For example, not explaining what photographs showed or only providing police incident reference numbers, but not explaining what had happened.

Without clear and detailed evidence of your place of worship’s vulnerability to hate crime, your application is unlikely to be successful.

Examples

Here are some examples of what successful and unsuccessful applications might look like. This is a guide only and should not be copied in your application form.

Successful applicant 1:

We have experienced several hate crimes and incidents over the past few years. We have not reported all of these to the police. In the past year, we have had three incidences of hate graffiti occur on our walls during prayer times. I attach photographic evidence of the incidents.

At every religious festival, we receive harassment. Protest groups attend and shout abusive things at us. I attach a witness statement from a worshipper who suffered some of this abuse at a recent religious festival.

Last year, we also had an incident of criminal damage. People entered our premises during the night and destroyed important religious texts and statutes. They broke down the door, and set fire to the religious texts. I attach photographic evidence of the damage. This felt hate motivated as the religious texts and statutes were purposefully targeted and damaged.

We recently had a more serious incident involving a male trying to enter the premises with a knife. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, and the police arrived promptly to deal with the man. I attach the police crime reference report from the incident, which provides further information on what happened. This was recorded by the police as a hate crime, as the man stated he had been there to hurt worshippers.

These incidents have made our worshippers feel vulnerable and targeted because of their faith. A local place of worship down the road has also experienced a number of similar religiously motivated hate crimes, and this adds to our feelings of vulnerability, as we feel tensions from the surrounding community.

Successful applicant 2:

We recently experienced a terrible incident where all of our religious statues were destroyed in one night. We also had all of our windows smashed. This attack was deliberate, iconoclastic, and planned. The perpetrators attacked the site at night, and the day before an important religious festival. This meant that we were unable to properly celebrate the religious festival, and instead spent the day talking to the police and clearing up the mess.

This was a terrible attack which has made our worshippers feel really vulnerable. Prior to this, we have experienced some low level anti-social behaviour, with people trespassing and littering on the premises. However, this attack shows a deliberate shift into more direct attacks against our faith and premises.

In support of this application, I attach photographs of the damage, witness reports detailing the impact, a survey of worshippers and how they feel about safety, police incident reports, and CCTV footage of the incidents.

Unsuccessful applicant 1:

In the current climate, all places of worship are vulnerable to hate crime.

Unsuccessful applicant 2:

We had someone leave a bag of rubbish on our premises.

As demonstrated by these examples, the applicants who provide more detail and upload evidence in support of their application, are the applicants which are more likely to score highly.

Site survey

If your application successfully demonstrates your vulnerability to hate crime, Esotec Limited will arrange to visit your place of worship with a local ‘Designing Out Crime Officer’ (DOCO). DOCOs are qualified experts in crime prevention and environment/building design. They will look at your current security arrangements and recommend the most appropriate physical protective security measures for your site. The recommended measures will be designed to reduce your place of worship’s vulnerability to hate crime.

If you are content with the recommended security measures, you will be asked to confirm whether you wish to continue with your application. At this point, you should not undertake any installation works yourself or arrange for the security measures to be installed by another contractor. We cannot reimburse your place of worship for works carried out by another contractor.

A similar site survey will be carried out for successful applicants who apply for guarding services under the Protective Security Mosques Scheme. This will be to determine the most appropriate guarding regime for each place of worship. Further information will be provided to relevant applicants once a supplier has been announced later in the year.

Due diligence checks will be carried out by the Home Office throughout the application process.

Application outcome

We will let applicants know by email whether they have been successful or not under the schemes.

Installation of physical security measures

If your application is successful, Esotec Limited will contact you to arrange a date to install your approved physical protective security measures. The Home Office will cover all of the costs to purchase and install agreed security measures, which will be paid directly to Esotec Limited. This does not include costs associated with permissions/consent required, or preparatory work required (for example, costs associated with clearing site debris or foliage to allow installation works to occur).

The Home Office will conduct random audit checks on a number of completed projects to ensure that all installations are in line with the agreed measures and to a satisfactory standard. All successful applicants should be prepared for the Home Office to arrange its audit.

We also ask that successful applicants complete a short survey once security measures have been installed. This will give you an opportunity to say how the funded measures have benefitted your place of worship or associated faith community centre and provide any feedback on the process to the Home Office.

Esotec Limited may use third party sub-contractors to install any future physical security measures, as and when required.

If your application is successful, we ask that you engage quickly and fully with Esotec Limited to agree a survey visit to your place of worship and any further arrangements with contractors etc. We may otherwise need to withdraw any offer of funding.

Planning restrictions

The award of a grant to install security measures at your place of worship does not include permission to carry out the works. If your application is successful, you will need to check if further permissions are needed for the work to be carried out (for example, planning permission, listed building consent, faculty permission etc).

We ask you to seek any permissions required as quickly as possible. Esotec Limited will seek confirmation from you that the application process for any consents needed has been started within two weeks of notification that your application has been successful.

Data protection

To find out more about how we process and protect your information, and your rights in relation to this, please see the privacy information notice (PIN).

Published 26 July 2016
Last updated 22 December 2023 + show all updates
  1. Availability of the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme expanded to Scotland and Northern Ireland and deadline extended to 18 February 2024.

  2. Deadline for the Protective Security for Mosque scheme extended to 31 December 2023.

  3. The deadline for apply for the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme has been extended to 26 November.

  4. The deadline for applications has been extended to 5 September 2023.

  5. Added translation

  6. Added translation

  7. Added Welsh translation.

  8. Updated the scheme information, including guidance for Muslim communities and timescale.

  9. Amendment of closing date from 14 July to 28 July 2022.

  10. Replaced 'privacy information notice' document with link to accessible version.

  11. Updated guidance.

  12. Amendment of closing date from 2 July to 16 July 2021.

  13. Updated email under Contact Us.

  14. Added contact details for Strengthening Faith Institutions, for if you require any assistance with submitting your application.

  15. Updated places of worship scheme guidance.

  16. Updated privacy information notice (PIN).

  17. Details updated for the 2020 scheme including the Privacy Information Notice.

  18. Bids open for 2019 fund.

  19. Bids open for 2018 fund.

  20. Bidding open for 2017 funding.

  21. Application deadline extended to 4 October 2016.

  22. Updated guidance and bid form published.

  23. First published.