UK Government Confirms Free Entry Will Remain at England's National Museums

Key facts

• Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, announced on Monday 28 September that free admission will remain at England's national museums.
• The announcement was made at an event hosted by Art Fund and the Cultural Policy Unit at Tate Liverpool.
• Universal free entry to the UK's 15 national museums began on 1 December 2001 and will reach its 25th anniversary later this year.
• Alison Cole, director of the Cultural Policy Unit, called the policy 'one of the landmark cultural policies of our times.'
• Museum directors Tristram Hunt (V&A) and Nicholas Cullinan (British Museum) supported the move in a statement.
• Gabriele Finaldi, director of the National Gallery, said free entry is 'one of the UK's greatest cultural assets.'
• The DCMS had raised the possibility of tourist charges in its response to Margaret Hodge's review of Arts Council England, published last December.
• In July 2024, former interim British Museum director Mark Jones proposed a £20 admission fee for overseas visitors.
• A new report says tourist admission fees would be 'ideologically at odds' with national museums' global collections.
• Earlier this month, the UK government granted regional mayors the power to introduce an Overnight Visitor Levy, with cultural leaders urging that revenue be ring-fenced for arts and culture.