Brighton & Hove Museums rejects ‘bankruptcy’ claim amid strike action

The Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust in Brighton has hit back against “inaccurate and misleading” claims by the GMB Union that it is facing potential bankruptcy.

The organisation, known to the public as Brighton & Hove Museums, runs five museum and heritage sites on behalf of Brighton & Hove City Council.

Opening hours at four of those sites were disrupted on 3 June due to a strike over pay and conditions. The affected venues included the Royal Pavilion (open with reduced hours); Brighton Museum & Art Gallery (closed); Preston Manor (closed); and Hove Museum of Creativity (closed).

The trust has confirmed that closures planned for 4 and 5 June are no longer going ahead and the venues are now operating under their usual opening hours.

The trust's final site, the Booth Museum, is temporarily closed for improvement works.

The dispute began with two days of strike action in April after workers said they had been ordered to sign new contracts that threatened their existing pay and conditions.

The previously council-run museums were transferred to an independent trust in 2020, with trust staff employed on the same terms as council workers. This agreement came to an end in March.

The GMB Union, which is representing the workers, said the new contracts would put the previous benefits package “severely under threat”, affecting access to pay rises, the Local Government Pension Scheme and benefits such as holiday allowance, parental leave and sick pay.   

The dispute escalated last week after GMB called on the council to intervene “before the trust’s financial difficulties lead to bankruptcy”.

The union’s regional organiser, Oliver Cruikshank, said union officials had attended a meeting with the trust on 27 May and presented a “fair and reasonable proposal” that offered compromise on certain issues, including pay.

“This was rejected out of hand, with the existing offer no longer on the table and no plans for the board to meet to discuss any further resolution,” said Cruikshank.

“GMB is entering these negotiations in good faith, with agreement seeming close a few weeks ago, but have been faced with a trust who are not even prepared to discuss the pay rise our members were due in April.

“We understand that the trust may be facing serious monetary issues, but it is not our members – the lowest paid but most important staff within the trust - who should shoulder the blame for this nor the responsibility to dig the trust out of any holes.

“In order to avoid further strike dates being issued, the trust need to call an urgent meeting, with trustees and decision makers from the council present, to be able to negotiate with GMB representatives and finally put a stop to this dispute.”

Brighton & Hove Museums has strongly rejected the union’s claims about its financial standing.

A statement issued by the trust expressed “deep disappointment over a series of inaccurate and misleading claims issued by the GMB Union” about the industrial action.

It continued: “Leadership at the independent charitable trust has categorically corrected union assertions regarding the charity's financial standing and a refusal to negotiate, stating that the public narrative put forward by the Union is factually incorrect.

“The trust firmly rejected any suggestion of potential bankruptcy, correcting the claim as entirely false. Far from being financially unstable, the independent trust model was specifically chosen by Brighton & Hove City Council to provide long-term resilience.

“The model allows the charity to access vital independent revenue streams, such as Gift Aid, tax relief and charitable donations that are completely unavailable to local authorities, shielding Brighton’s heritage from severe local council budget cuts.”

The trust also rejected the union’s claim that management had walked away from negotiations. A further meeting held on Tuesday this week did not resolve the dispute but did result in some progress, Museums Journal understands.  

“The charity remains entirely committed to open, realistic dialogue and continues to welcome engagement with all representative union bodies to find a mutually agreeable resolution to the ongoing dispute,” said the trust.

The statement also sought to correct “misinformation surrounding current working contracts”.

The trust said there are “absolutely zero reductions to basic salaries” and the charity “continues to guarantee robust contractual benefits that match or outclass standard sector rates”.

The statement said: “The main operational change from the amendments is a necessary transition away from national local government (NJC) pay awards to an independent, local negotiation model. This shift is a direct, unavoidable consequence of the conclusion of Brighton & Hove City Council’s five-year funding deal in March 2026.”

The trust said its board of trustees is “legally required to approve any formal financial proposals”. The board is scheduled to review and agree on the staff pay award for 2026-27 at its next planned meeting in July.

“For months, we have acted with the utmost patience and respect as we navigate the harsh economic realities facing the cultural sector,” said Hedley Swain, the CEO of Brighton & Hove Museums.

“Making minor adjustments to our terms is not a choice; it is an absolute necessity if we are to protect the financial resilience of this charity, safeguard five significant historic buildings, and care for over one million items in our collections.

“It is deeply disappointing that, rather than engaging in constructive dialogue to help us protect these sites, GMB officials are choosing to fabricate a crisis for a media headline. Their spurious actions are disrespectful towards our hardworking charitable trust staff, who pay the union to negotiate and deserve far better representation.”

Swain also hit back at what he called “disingenuous and highly divisive” claims by union officials that “one specific group of our workforce is 'more important' than another.”

“We are an organisation filled with dedicated, highly skilled professionals across every single department, from front-of-house to finance, world-class conservation, and education. Every single member of our team is valued equally, and it is insulting to the rest of our staff for the GMB to diminish their contributions,” he said.

Swain said the “door remains firmly open for genuine, realistic negotiation” to bring the dispute to an end.

Update
04.06.2026

Article updated following an announcement from Brighton & Hove Museums that strike closures planned on 4 and 5 June are no longer going ahead.