VAT relief for church retreats

Hi team, Happy New year As per this guidance https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/vat-welfare/vatwelf4050 and my understanding is that the church (registered as an UK charity) can claim VAT relief for church retreats as the main purpose of these retreats are for leading a group in the exploration of their spiritual needs and development; Is this correct understanding or has the guidance been recently changed or any advice on this please Many thanks

That link refers to the supplies of welfare retreats being an exempt supply, that is, when a church charges a fee to attend the retreat, the retreat is deemed to be an exempt supply (no VAT to be charged on the retreat fee to the customer). There is no "relief" to claim, nothing is claimed, if you are asking this question as a customer, the church should not be charging VAT on their retreat fee. If you are asking the question as a church raising an invoice to a customer, your invoice is exempt/no VAT charged. A church that makes an exempt supply, the church cannot reclaim input tax on costs associated with the retreat and the church may need a partial exemption calculation to ensure it correctly reclaims the right amount of input tax to reflect only its taxable (VATable) sales.,