The situation has grown worse since the decision, taken under former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, to end the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme (LPWGS), established during Gordon Brown’s time as chancellor.

Starmer’s government reduced the budget of the scheme before scrapping it entirely. In its place the government introduced the Places of Worship Renewal Fund, which no longer exempted historic churches from VAT on repairs.

At the time the leadership of the NCT warned that this change “is likely to mean that projects are cancelled or scaled back, leading to more churches being at risk of closure and further damage to historic buildings”.

The then moderator of the Church of Scotland, Rosie Frew, also warned that the changes would threaten the financial viability of some of its historic churches. Indeed since then, the Church of Scotland has transferred ownership of historic Brechin Cathedral to a community group due to the prohibitive costs of maintaining the building.

The announcement that an additional £200,000 would be made available was made by Communities Minister Gordon Lyons at Bloomfield Presbyterian Church in Belfast.

Claire Walker, Chief Executive of the NCT, said, “We are hugely grateful to the Department for Communities for this award of £200,000 and for its longstanding support for our work in Northern Ireland.

“This funding will enable us to continue helping places of worship to carry out urgent repairs, protecting these much-loved buildings and keeping them open and serving local people.”

Bloomfield recently made use of a £55,000 government grant to conduct repairs to the structure of a large arched stained-glass window and other parts of the church, highlighting both the huge costs faced by historic churches and the reality of how far an extra £200,000 will go.

Lyons said, “Churches have been under considerable pressure recently, particularly in the context of the UK-wide Listed Places of Worship VAT reclaim scheme ending in March of this year.

“I recognise the value of these much-used buildings to people, to the wider community and even to tourism and people’s pride of place.”

Walker added, “Churches are an important part of Northern Ireland’s heritage and remain at the heart of communities across the country.

“The Department’s continued partnership with the National Churches Trust will make a real and lasting difference, helping congregations to safeguard these special buildings for everyone to enjoy, both now and for generations to come.”