Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the new Labour budget yesterday, raising taxes by £40 billion in order to fund the planned 1.5% increase in government spending.
The Chancellor announced a budget increase of 2.6% from 2023/24 to 2025/26 for the Department for Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS), meaning an overall budget of £2.3bn for 2025/26.
Here's how the new increased budget will be used:
- Increased funding for National Museums and Galleries.
- Expansion of the Creative Careers Programme, which aims to tackle skills gaps and educate people on career routes in the arts.
- Funding for a series of commemorative events for VE and VJ day, as well as for the lives lost in the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Increased investment in sports facilities across the UK, and an additional £9 million a year to be invested in the UK’s Olympic and Paralympic programme - an increase of 10%.
While the increase in investment is more than welcome after decades of decline in arts funding in the UK, there has been discussion from museum and gallery leaders that the budget increase may not be enough to pull these institutions out of the dire financial situations they are currently in, a particular worry for many civic museums which are currently on the verge of bankruptcy.
The rise in National Minimum Wage and the increase in employer National Insurance contributions will also increase costs for museums and galleries, putting more pressure on these already burdened organisations.
It seems that the tax relief programme for museums, galleries, theatres and orchestras - first proposed in Jeremy Hunt's 2024 budget - will probably remain for the new year.
The increase in the arts budget is, of course, a positive change, but whether it will be enough to restore the UK’s culture and arts scene remains to be seen.
