CHANGES TO THE GRANT SCHEME FROM 1 APRIL 2011

We are now in a position to announce how the LPW scheme will work from 11/12 onwards. The new scheme will have a proper, fixed budget, and, as we said in January 2011

‘..the way the scheme works will be reviewed so we can manage it in the most simple and un-bureaucratic way possible in order to stay within the budget cap already announced.’

We have sought a solution which is as easy to administer as possible, is fair, and which achieves the widest possible spread of benefit. We have consulted closely with church representatives and, with them, have come up with the following new approach:

• The new scheme will not be operational until the 2nd quarter of 11/12 with the first payments under the new scheme made in October 2011;
  
  
• The scheme will operate with quarterly fixed budgets. Payments will be made once per quarter and the payable rate will depend on the value of the eligible claims received in that quarter, with each claim attracting a fair pro-rata payment. The benefits of this are that everyone will receive a payment and we will ensure that all available money is used;
  
  
• The maximum grant payable in response to any application will be 20% of project costs (i.e. the maximum payable will be the full rate of VAT incurred on eligible expenditure) and the scope continues as it has been since January 4th. If the total funding is not used in any quarter, it will be available in the following quarter (but not transferable between financial years). We will publicise at the end of each quarter the value of the applications received and the applicable payable rate;
  
  
• Application will be made in the same way as before, except that it will not be possible to accept claims where the supporting invoices are more than one year old. The previous scheme’s open-ended approach was too lax for efficient management, but we think that giving everyone a full year to submit their applications should still be plenty of time.

Payment dates and claim deadlines

Payments will made on or around the 14th day of July, October, January and April, in respect of the quarter ending on the last day of the previous month, although there were no July payments made in 2011 because of the transition from the previous scheme. The first payment in 2011 will be made in October and will use the portion of the budget allocated to quarters one and two, with one apportionment being made across this six month period.

In order for an eligible claim to be included in one of the quarterly payment runs:

• Applications must be received by the last working day of the preceding month- June, September, December and March.
• Any queries on your application must be resolved within 4 working days of the end of the preceding month. If your query cannot be resolved within this time, your application will roll forward into the next quarter, and that quarter’s payable rate will apply. In order to minimise the queries needing resolution at quarter-end, you are asked to submit your application as early as possible in the relevant quarter.

Dates and budgets for 2011/12

The total budget for the scheme (under the new arrangements) for the remainder of 11/12 is £7.08million. This figure takes into account the funding that was brought forward from the 2011/12 budget to meet the additional demand for claims in 2010/11.

The £7.08 million budget for 11/12 will be allocated for payments as follows:

Period ending	Applications to be received by	Queries to be cleared by	Payments to be made on or around	Total funding for the period (to include administration)
30 September 2011	30 September 2011	6 October 2011	14 October 2011	£3.58 million
31 December 2011	30 December 2011	6 January 2012	16 January 2012	£1.75 million
31 March 2012	30 March 2012	5 April 2012	19 April 2012	£1.75 million

These figures include grant assessment and processing costs, project monitoring costs and IT development.

CHANGES TO THE GRANT SCHEME FROM 4 JANUARY 2011 

The Department announced on 7 October that, in line with the need to reduce public expenditure, eligibility for applications received in the final quarter of 2010/11 would return to the original scope of the scheme. The press release can be seen at: http://www.culture.gov.uk/news/media_releases/7470.aspx

With immediate effect from 4 January 2011, the following will become ineligible under the scheme

• professional fees
• repairs to organs, pews, bells and clocks

Eligibility depends on the date the claim is received by the LPW Grant Scheme, not the date the works were carried out, or the invoice date.  

For claims including the above works/fees, received on or after 4th January 2011, these elements of the claim will be deemed ineligible and deducted from the total.

Please note that for ‘rejected’ claims, which are subsequently resubmitted, the date of receipt will be the date the resubmitted claim is received, not the date the original claim was received.