The House of Good report summarised
What is The House of Good?
The House of Good is the National Churches Trust’s ground-breaking research into the value of churches to all of us.
We have long known that churches are important to society. But how important?
That’s the question that we set out to answer, and the findings are remarkable. The House of Good demonstrates the importance of church buildings to everyone in the UK.
What are the figures and how did we calculate them?
The House of Good research showed us that churches provide £55 Billion of social value to the UK every year.
The findings are based on data from more than 7,000 churches that responded to the National Churches Trust surveys in 2010 and 2020. We used HM Treasury’s Green Book methods to analyse this data and to measure the benefits that churches provide for society.
The House of Good calculates six key areas of economic and social value. We call this the ‘Halo Effect’. It includes the market value of churches, as well as the huge wellbeing benefit to people from support services provided in church buildings.
And by looking at the money that is spent on church buildings, we were able to calculate the cost-benefit ratio of funding churches. We found that for every £1 invested in churches, the resulting benefits to society are worth over £16.
Why are these figures important today?
Funding church buildings is a fantastic investment.
Church buildings provide massive social support to people and communities throughout the UK, including in the most deprived areas. They provide a network of social support which helps to build more resilient and socially cohesive communities which results in huge wellbeing benefits.
But churches are guaranteed no support from governments, and many are in danger of closure.
In England, there are now 900 places of worship on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register – with 53 more added in 2023.
In Wales, 25 per cent of historic churches and chapels have closed in the last decade.
The Church of Scotland is actively planning to close as many as 30-40 per cent of its churches.
Churches are in crisis and urgently need our support.
Help us to keep churches open
With The House of Good, we know just how much we all stand to lose if we allow churches to close.
Every Church Counts is our blueprint of how churches can be saved for the future.
We are calling on the UK Government, heritage organisations and Christian denominations to work together to tackle the UK’s single biggest heritage challenge.
Our plan is the starting point for a national conversation on the future of church buildings. And we would love you to be a part of it.