The Home Office issued £66 million in emergency security funding for mosques and associated community sites at the time violent disorder spread in the aftermath of the Southport attacks in 2024. The payments, described by officials as emergency protective measures, were aimed at bolstering the physical security of religious and community premises.
Figures obtained by the Guardian also show that roughly £41 million was allocated for mosques and related community sites for the year beginning April 2025 as part of the government’s protective security scheme. Both sums are described in the material as record levels of funding for faith-based sites.
The government’s named anti-Islamophobia partner said the scale of the emergency payments and the higher ongoing allocations underscored the hostility faced by Muslim communities. The partner framed the funding as evidence of a heightened security need for mosques and community centres.
The record allocations come amid wider concerns about the safety of places of worship and community hubs. The emergency funding and the protective security scheme are intended to provide immediate and ongoing support for measures to protect congregations, though the published figures do not detail how individual grants were spent.
The allocations mark a notable step in the government’s financial response to targeted disorder affecting faith communities. Observers argue the levels of public spending on protective security reflect both the scale of recent incidents and continuing anxiety among vulnerable communities about their safety.