Royal Armouries to restructure due to rising operating costs

The Royal Armouries museum in Leeds has begun consulting staff on proposals to reduce its overall salary costs by around 9%.

In a statement this week, Nat Edwards, the director general and master of the Armouries, said the restructure was necessary to address financial pressures caused by rising operating costs.

He said pressures on government spending meant that state funding for the national museum, which is directly sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, had not kept pace with operating cost increases.

The organisation’s executive board now embarked on a programme to balance its budgets, reduce expenditure and increase earned income to ensure the museum’s long-term financial sustainability.

“As part of this, we have begun a process of consultation with staff on proposals to restructure the organisation with the aim of reducing overall staff costs by around 9% of our salary costs,” said Edwards.

“This is a necessary and responsible step to protect our financial position by balancing Royal Armouries incomes and outgoings, to allow us to continue to care for our collections and welcome visitors for generations to come.”

The process began with an agreed reduction in the executive board’s salary costs. The museum is now offering possible voluntary redundancy to staff across the organisation.

“Following this, we will consider a formal consultation on proposed changes to our structure and total numbers of employees, involving a number of roles potentially being declared ‘at risk’ of redundancy,” said Edwards. “We expect this process to conclude in the main, before the end of the financial year.

“We recognise this can be a difficult time, and we are committed to supporting our staff through this process.”

In spite of the current financial pressures, Edwards said that the museum is “looking ahead with confidence” as it prepares for its £100m Royal Armouries Waterfront project to develop the adjacent Tiltyard site.

Last year the government provided a £11.69m loan to enable the museum to purchase the freehold of the Leeds Dock waterfront site and buildings for the first time.

Funding from government is ring-fenced to develop a new multi-purpose venue “which will increase revenue and strengthen our financial position over the longer term”, Edwards said.

“We are positive about our future but are at the same time disappointed that, even though we have attracted record levels of visitors and generated more income than ever before through our commercial efforts, due to fiscal pressures our core funding has not kept pace with rising costs,” said Edwards.

“Now, despite our best efforts, we need to take these measures to protect our core mission: to serve the public and preserve for the nation the world’s greatest collection of arms and armour.”

Edwards added: “Throughout this period of change and beyond, we remain fully committed to our public mission, caring for our collections and delivering the highest standards for our visitors."

The museum, which can trace its history back 700 years, marks its 30th anniversary in its Leeds site this year.

The Tiltyard development will include new immersive arts and events spaces as well as a £34m, 50-key commercial hotel development.  

The museum is also planning a redesign and refresh of its permanent exhibition galleries. Following a competitive tender process, ZMMA and Nissen Richards Studio have been jointly appointed to lead the project.