National Gallery to make major cuts in effort to stem ballooning deficit | National Gallery

The National Gallery will make significant cuts next year in the face of an £8.2m deficit; This could mean fewer free exhibitions and ticketed shows, less borrowing of international art, and more expensive tickets.

The gallery said that as a result of significantly rising operating costs and stagnant revenue, it would seek to cut spending on areas “such as public programs and activities whose costs we can no longer justify for a variety of reasons beyond our control”.

There will also be a “voluntary exit plan” available to all staff of the National Gallery and its commercial arm, which will include financial incentives to leave. If this does not generate sufficient savings, compulsory redundancies are possible.

A spokesman for the gallery said: “Due to many widely reported circumstances beyond our control, such as increases in running costs and commercial pressures, we have now reached a point where we must make difficult and painful decisions.” “To achieve sustainability, we need to balance our artistic and educational mission with a new body of work.”

There was little sign of the gallery’s growing deficit after last year’s financial results showed a huge boost to the Van Gogh exhibition, which attracted a record 335,000 visitors. This year it will host another blockbuster exhibition featuring all of Van Eyck’s surviving portraits. we met for the first time.

But in the current financial year, which ends in March, the gallery is expected to face a deficit of around £2 million. According to Art Newspaper, unless urgent action is taken, this amount is expected to increase by £6.2 million next year, reaching £8.2 million.

This comes at a time when public spending cuts, rising running costs and weak visitor numbers are putting serious pressure on UK museums. Visitor numbers to the National Gallery have still not reached their pre-Covid level of six million a year. The figure for the 12 months to September 2025 was 3.8 million.

The reopening of the Sainsbury Wing last May led to an improvement in foot traffic, but visitors generally come for the free permanent collection rather than ticketed exhibitions. The gallery also had to manage inflation as well as new business rates and national insurance payments.

It recently celebrated its bicentennial with NG200 and is looking to the future with Project Domani, where a large new wing is planned to be built to showcase modern art. received grants of £150 million each from Michael Moritz’s Crankstart Foundation and the Julia Rausing Trust; This donation is thought to be the two largest single cash donations ever publicly announced to a museum or gallery anywhere in the world. The budgets of both projects are limited.

“We have been successful in developing and greatly expanding our free offering, which is now hugely popular both in person and online,” a spokesperson for the gallery said. “We have also attracted major investment in a landmark project for the future. But in the current global environment and with the cost of living crisis, we, like many other organisations, face increasing competition for people’s time and share of wallet.”

Prospect deputy general secretary Noel McClean said: “The financial situation of a major gallery being this difficult shows just how tough things are in the sector. It is becoming increasingly clear that the level of funding provided to these vital cultural institutions is not adequate and we are paying the price for this in the loss of skilled workers.”

“Unless we find a sustainable method of funding, the problems we see at the National Gallery will be repeated across the country, putting our heritage and culture at permanent risk.”

The National Gallery currently receives government grants of £32 million annually. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said it was in close contact with the gallery about its finances. It was stated that decisions “regarding personnel and operational matters” were made by the gallery’s board of trustees.

The gallery emphasized the need for a “strategic reset”. “We know this is difficult, but we all need to understand and respond that things are changing in the world,” he said. “We need to make tough decisions now to future-proof the gallery for years to come.”