Funding and Resources
Part of the Heritage Counts series. 5 minute read.
A wide range of organisations provide funding for the historic environment. The 'Funding and Resources' theme brings together datasets that track the funding provided to the sector by a selection of national funders and voluntary organisations.
National public sector funding
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is the department dedicated to the UK's cultural, media, sporting, tourism and charity sectors.
DCMS is directly responsible for several important sources of funding for the historic environment. These include the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, the Memorial Grant Schemes, and funding for Royal Parks and Royal Households. The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme has now closed and the new Places of Worship Renewal Fund will open to applications starting in 2026/27.
Historic England is an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by DCMS. 2021/22 is the final year the English Heritage Trust received Grant in aid from Historic England, after which the charity has been financially stable.
Figure FUN 3.1 – Funding sources for the historic environment, 2024/25
In January 2026, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy announced that £1.5 billion will be invested between 2025 and 2030. The move will fix urgent capital needs and open up access to culture for everyone, everywhere. The £1.5 billion of funding is made up of:
- £760 million for museums:
- £425 million Creative Foundations Fund which will support approximately 300 capital projects in arts venues across the country
- £230 million for heritage protecting and preserving heritage buildings, including listed places of worship, across the country:
- £75 million for at risk heritage which provides grants towards repairs and conservation of historic buildings
- £46 million for the Heritage Revival Fund which helps communities to take control of and look after local heritage and bring buildings back into public use
- In recognition of the important role religious heritage buildings play in the UK’s national story, a new £92 million fund called the Places of Worship Renewal Fund will replace the £23 million Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme and bring these important buildings into line with other heritage assets. It will give them access to the same level of financial support from the government as historic houses, monuments and other heritage sites.
- £27.5 million for Libraries Improvement Fund which supports public libraries to upgrade their buildings and technology to meet changing needs to better serve their communities.
- £80 million capital funding over 4 years to benefit National Portfolio organisations that receive regular investment from Arts Council England. This is part of a 5% uplift next year for these organisations that will help deliver arts and culture activity in every local authority. The Arts Everywhere Fund will be integral to utilising investment in arts and culture as a catalyst for local growth in the cultural and creative industries and in supporting local venues to achieve their full potential. Funding will support communities across the country and focus on disadvantaged areas.
Source: DCMS, Historic England, English Heritage, NLHF
Includes spending and income from key services relating to:
- Archives. All spending on archives
- Heritage. All spending on repair and maintenance of the authority’s historic buildings and ancient monuments, including recovery of expenses; costs of compulsory purchase orders and income from sales of properties so acquired; initiatives or services designed to develop or maintain an awareness of local history, including grants to certain voluntary groups; special events to celebrate historical events
- Museums and galleries. All spend on museums and galleries including grants to independent museums
- Development control. Spending under town and country planning legislation including on advice; conservation and listed building applications/buildings preservation orders/ urgent works and repairs notices, and spot listings; listed building and conservation appeals; and enforcement
- Conservation and listed buildings planning policy. Spend on determination of policy or guidelines for conservation; the designation of conservation areas and the preparation and implementation of any schemes for their enhancement, including conservation area appraisals; building risk assessment and general advice on historic buildings and conservation areas
Local authority expenditure on services for the historic environment has significantly decreased (-47%) since 2009/2010.
Figure FUN 3.3a – Local authority net current expenditure (£) between 2009/10 and 2024/25
Figure note: 2024/25 has quite a high number of local authorities's who did not submit data in time for publication. This makes the inflation adjusted differences appear slightly artificially larger, due to the most recent data being artificially low.
Source: DLUHC
Figure FUN 3.4a – Changes in net current expenditure across historic environment subcategories between 2009/10 to 2024/5
Source: DLUHC
Figure FUN 3.4b – Local authority expenditure change (%) on the historic environment, 2009/10 to 2024/5
Figure note: Click the legend to filter the range visible.
Source: DLUHC
National Lottery Heritage Fund funding
The National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) is the largest source of public funding for the historic environment in the UK. The following points and data related to England exclusively.
- Since its inception in 1994, it has awarded approx. £7.8 billion (total value of hard commitments to projects, including grant-in-aid funded projects) to around 43,000 projects up until 2025
- In 2024/25, 686 heritage projects were financed with a total expenditure of £278.9 million
- Over £85 million of this funding was awarded to projects in the 25% most deprived local authorities
- During the years affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the amount of funding awarded by the Heritage Fund dropped significantly. It was during this period that almost half of the total grant-in-aid funding was awarded, over £224 million to over 1,200 projects. It is expected that levels of funding will increase going forward under the Heritage 2033 Strategy announced in January 2024, and the first 3-year delivery plan 2023-26
Figure FUN 3.5 – National Lottery Heritage Fund funding, 2012/13 to 2024/25
Source: NLHF
Environmental Land Management schemes
Multiple schemes including the "Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)" and the "Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT)" provide funding to farmers and other land managers who deliver effective environmental management on their land, including protecting the historic environment.
- In 2025, the lifetime agreement value of £4.8 million was awarded by Environmental Land Management schemes
- In 2025, 628 agreements were taken up, a decrease from the 2024 total (2,038 agreements) - due to Countryside Stewardship schemes ending in 2024, which have been replaced with other schemes such as the Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier and the Sustainable Farming Incentive
Dataset
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Funding and Resources
ODS spreadsheet of the raw data.
Also of interest
