Specialist utility cost recovery and statutory reliefs for faith-based charities.

Energy used by a place of worship or charity for charitable non-business purposes qualifies for the reduced rate of VAT instead of the standard 20%: currently 0% for electricity (from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027, in England, Scotland and Wales) and 5% for gas. It is also exempt from the Climate Change Levy. It is not applied automatically. You must give your supplier a VAT declaration, and overpayments can generally be reclaimed for up to four years. Registration with the Charity Commission is not required. Excepted and exempt charities qualify on the same basis, which covers many places of worship. The body does need charitable status. That status can be evidenced by the body's governing document or by recognition from HMRC, which is the reference a supplier will usually want to see alongside the VAT declaration. Mixed-use buildings are covered by the 60% rule. If at least 60% of a meter's supply is for qualifying use, the whole supply is charged at 5%. Below that level, the supply is apportioned.

A place of public religious worship in England and Wales is wholly exempt from business rates under Schedule 5 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988, and the exemption extends to halls and similar buildings used in connection with it. This applies across faiths where the building is certified as a place of worship. Other charity premises qualify instead for 80% mandatory relief, with up to a further 20% at the council's discretion.

Often, yes. Water bills include a surface-water drainage charge for rainwater assumed to reach the public sewer. Where it drains instead to ground, a soakaway or a watercourse, that charge can be reduced or removed and backdated up to six years. In some regions, registered places of worship also qualify for a concessionary scheme that caps surface-water and highway drainage charges regardless of site size. What applies depends on your water company, so we check the position for each site.

Not necessarily. Under Ofgem's back-billing rules, a supplier generally cannot pursue you for energy used more than twelve months ago where it failed to bill you correctly and the fault was not yours. This 12-month cap is guaranteed for domestic and microbusiness customers, a category most smaller places of worship fall into by staff numbers or by low energy use. Larger organisations outside that definition are not automatically covered by the cap. Suppliers must still bill them fairly, and an estimate that cannot be reconciled with your actual meter readings can be challenged in any case. We would advise against payment until the bill has been reviewed.

Places of worship are entitled to free rubbish collection from the council, including for halls used for worship, yet many pay a private contractor without realising. We check what you are entitled to and help you switch to council collection. We also explain how the new Simpler Recycling rules apply to you. Organisations with 10 or more full-time-equivalent employees had to comply by 31 March 2025; those with fewer than 10 have until 31 March 2027. Volunteers do not count towards the total, so many faith charities fall under the later deadline. We provide this service free of charge.

We work on a no-recovery, no-fee basis: an agreed percentage of what is actually recovered, with no upfront cost. If nothing is recoverable, you pay nothing, and you gain the assurance that your accounts are correct.

Ofgem's microbusiness definition (Standard Licence Condition 7A) treats you as a microbusiness if you meet any one of these: you use no more than 100,000 kWh of electricity a year; or no more than 293,000 kWh of gas a year (the threshold applies per fuel); or you have fewer than 10 employees (full-time equivalent) and an annual turnover or balance sheet of no more than £2 million. Most churches, mosques and smaller faith charities qualify on the energy-use test alone. Microbusiness status matters because it brings protections including the 12-month back-billing limit.