LONDON — Faith communities across the United Kingdom can feel safer, after the government announced record levels of security funding covering Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Sikh, and other faith sites. Up to £73.4 million will be available in 2026 to 2027 through the government’s range of protective security schemes — the highest total ever committed to defending places of worship, faith schools, and religious community centres across the country.

The funding will pay for on-site security staff and physical security equipment including CCTV cameras, perimeter fencing, intruder alarm systems, and floodlighting. The announcement comes against a backdrop of rising religious hate crime: the 2025 hate crime statistics for England and Wales recorded overall religious hate crime at all-time record levels, with Jewish people disproportionately affected, and 45% of all religious hate crimes targeting Muslims.

The announcement positions the United Kingdom as one of Europe’s most proactive states in funding the physical protection of religious communities. The broad scope of the schemes — covering faith sites from synagogues and mosques to churches, temples, and gurdwaras — reflects a recognition that religious hatred targets believers across all traditions, and that the state has both a duty and a capacity to respond.

With the Places of Worship Protective Security Scheme’s next application window set to open later in 2026, faith organisations of all denominations are encouraged to prepare their applications. For Jewish and Muslim institutions, applications are accepted on a rolling basis — directly through the CST and the Home Office respectively.