{"id":431182,"date":"2026-02-17T22:51:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T22:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/431182\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T22:51:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T22:51:07","slug":"national-gallery-restructure-shows-sectors-dire-financial-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/431182\/","title":{"rendered":"National Gallery restructure shows sector\u2019s \u2018dire financial position\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the\u00a0UK\u2019s\u00a0biggest unions\u00a0for\u00a0culture workers has said the funding crisis\u00a0facing museums and galleries\u00a0is putting\u00a0the sector at \u201cpermanent\u00a0risk\u201d.<\/p>\n

Noel McClean, the deputy general secretary of Prospect, spoke out after news broke at the weekend that the National Gallery in London is restructuring in response to a projected \u00a38.2m deficit.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0London\u00a0institution has introduced a voluntary exit scheme for staff, which may be followed by\u00a0compulsory\u00a0redundancies. Other cost saving measures being considered include higher ticket prices, fewer\u00a0temporary\u00a0exhibitions, and less international borrowing of artworks.<\/p>\n

The restructure comes less than a year after the gallery unveiled an \u00a385m transformation of its Sainsbury wing<\/a>.\u00a0The institution\u00a0reported a\u00a0record-breaking year\u00a0for visitor numbers\u00a0in 2025\u00a0thanks to the success of\u00a0its Van\u00a0Gogh exhibition and bicentenary celebrations.<\/p>\n

In the coming years it is planning to build a new \u00a3375m wing to house its expanding collection, which will be the largest transformation of the gallery since its formation in 1824.<\/p>\n

The gallery has blamed the restructure on factors beyond its control, including rising costs and stagnant income, which have left it facing a deficit of around \u00a32m by the end of the current\u00a0financial year.<\/p>\n

The Art Newspaper has reported that without immediate remedial action, this deficit is expected to grow by a further \u00a36.2m next year to reach \u00a38.2m.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0National Gallery\u00a0spokesperson said: \u201cDue to many widely reported circumstances which are beyond our control, such as rises in operational costs and commercial pressures, we have now reached a point where we must make difficult and painful decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo achieve sustainability, we must balance our artistic and educational mission with a new operating structure.\u201d<\/p>\n

McClean said the gallery\u2019s predicament showed that the level of funding for the sector was \u201cnowhere\u00a0near\u00a0sufficient\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said:\u00a0\u201cNews of these cuts at the National Gallery is worrying for everyone who works\u00a0there\u00a0and we will be working with the employer to try and avoid compulsory redundancies. That a major gallery is in such a dire financial position shows just how difficult things are in the sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is becoming increasingly clear that the level of funding for these vital cultural institutions is nowhere near sufficient and we are paying the price with the loss of skilled workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t sort out a method of sustainable funding then the\u00a0problems\u00a0we\u2019re seeing at National Gallery will be repeated across the country, putting our heritage and culture at permanent risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Join<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the\u00a0UK\u2019s\u00a0biggest unions\u00a0for\u00a0culture workers has said the funding crisis\u00a0facing museums and galleries\u00a0is putting\u00a0the sector at \u201cpermanent\u00a0risk\u201d. Noel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-431182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}