As the dust settles on the comprehensive spending review, museums and galleries are assessing the damage. Although the cuts weren’t as bad as some had feared, most agree the worst is yet to come as the cuts are rolled out.

One of the government’s targets was a reduction in the number of quangos and the amount spent on administration. For the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), this meant the abolition of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and a 50% cut to its own administration budget.

Several arm’s-length bodies including Arts Council England (ACE), English Heritage and VisitBritain have also been asked to find 50% savings in this area.

Most MLA functions, including Renaissance, Accreditation, Designation and responsibility for cultural property, will transfer to ACE by April 2012.

However, ACE has got problems of its own, having suffered a hefty 29% cut. The DCMS asked it to limit cuts to its Regularly Funded Organisations to 15% and this has led to an overhaul of its funding system, which could result in 100 organisations that are currently funded losing out (see link to p6 below).

Assuming the transfer of responsibilities from the MLA to ACE goes ahead in time, 2011-12 will be a transition year from Hub to Core museums. There will be losers under the new system, and there is concern that the criteria for Core museums has not yet been published or agreed and the criteria for accessing the Challenge Fund (which will be open to non-Core museums) and the funding mechanism for museum development officers remains unclear.

National museums in England face a 15% cut, which is not as brutal as they had been led to believe. They also have agreement that they can apply to use £143m of their historic reserves, although this will be decided on a case-by-case basis and represents only half the total reserve amount.

Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum Wales) has had its revenue grant -in-aid cut by just 4% over the three years to 2014 although it faces bigger cuts in capital and acquisition grants. And National Museums Scotland faces a 4.2% cut next year, with uncertainty about funding for following years (see link to p5 below).

National Museums Northern Ireland won’t find out its level of cuts until next year. The same applies to the six Ministry of Defence-sponsored museums, which are assuming their cuts will be similar to the 15% for DCMS-sponsored museums.

The DCMS Business Plan, published last month, caused ripples with a proposal to “identify options for relinquishing control and sponsorship” of its eight non-national museums. In a bleak funding climate it seems unlikely that they will find other organisations to replace millions of pounds of government funding, although the DCMS insists it will not cut them loose without support.

It is anticipated that some of the harshest cuts will be in local authority museums and galleries. In England, local authorities have to find cuts of 28% and it is feared that museums as non-statutory services will be hard hit.

There have already been reports of museum services facing cuts of 30-40%, and this has lead to discussions about selling collections, closing venues and reducing opening hours.

In Scotland, local authority budgets will be cut by 2.6% next year  and in Wales local authority budgets will be cut by 1.7% next year with marginal rises in the following two years.

Another area of concern is the future of education programmes. Find Your Talent and Creative Partnerships were early victims of the cuts and the future of Strategic Commissioning is uncertain now that the DCMS has announced an end to its share of the funding.

Although the picture is mixed across the UK and across different types of museums and galleries, the one note of consensus from those that work in the sector is that the next four years are going to be very tough indeed.

Cuts at a glance
  • National Heritage Memorial Fund: 50%
  • English Heritage: 32%
  • ACE: 29%
  • VisitBritain: 34%
  • English local government: 28%
  • National museums: 5%
  • Renaissance in the Regions: 15%
  • Devolved nations: 7%
  • National Museum Wales*: 4%
  • National Museums Scotland**: 4.2%

*Over three years from 2011-12 to 2013-14
**2011-12 only