Sadly, security concerns relating to places of worship have increased in recent weeks.
The government have issued advice and guidance on personal security and security for places of worship.
Below is an overview of the Home Office scheme recently launched to help counter the threat.
Please go to the Home Office page for full details.
Individual denominations have in many cases also given guidelines: please see your denominational website or review your official email for this.
(taken from Home Office website)
From: Home Office
First published: 26 July 2016
Applies to: England and Wales
Apply for funding for security measures to prevent hate crime.
The scheme is part of our wider cross-government work to stop all forms of hate crime. It will provide protective security measures to places of worship.
You can bid for funding from 26 July 2016.
The scheme is open for 8 weeks and closes at 5pm on 20 September 2016. A second round of bids will open in spring 2017.
We will consider bids from places of worship in England and Wales. Schools and educational institutions are not eligible to apply.
You can only bid for security equipment and not for the cost of recruiting
security personnel.
Below are some examples of security equipment you can bid
for, but this is not an exhaustive list:
Funding would also include the appropriate labour cost to install the security equipment.
However, there is no financial contribution towards:
You should arrange a site survey and discuss your security requirements with the Master Locksmiths Association (MLA) or your local Crime Prevention Design Adviser (CPDA) who can provide advice and assist with an assessment of the security of your building.
MLA licensed locksmith companies have all met the strict vetted, inspected and licensing criteria and are able to provide advice, based on knowledge and experience.
Places of worship need to contribute 20% of the total costs.
We will issue a funding agreement to places of worship. You would need to have sufficient funds to pay for the full cost of the security equipment to be installed using one of the approved installation companies that satisfy the Home Office requirements.
Work must be completed by 31 March 2017. Once completed projects have been signed off by the Home Office security adviser to ensure that installation is in line with the description in the application and to their satisfaction, we will reimburse places of worship (80%) within 30 days of receipt of invoice.
Bid opens | 26 July 2016 | |
Bid closes | 5pm on 20 September 2016 | |
Home Office assessment period | 21 September to 19 October 2016 | |
Panel consideration meeting | By 2 November 2016 | |
Outcome communicated | By 9 November 2016 |