Yesterday it was announced that English Heritage was getting the ax and the government was cutting all funding. This was put with a slightly nicer spin of look at the good bye money we are sending. The press release is pretty bad but it does state that,
‘Under current plans, the new charity will be set up by March 2015. It will retain the name English Heritage and in due course, will be completely self-financing and no longer need tax-payer support’
‘The new arrangement will also greatly benefit English Heritage’s planning and heritage protection responsibilities, which will be known as the National Heritage Protection Service – until a friendlier title is chosen. This will continue to use its statutory powers, advice, research and awareness-raising to protect England’s heritage at large – the very stuff of our historic streets, villages, towns, cities, our ancient archaeological remains and even the heritage beneath our coastal waters.’
So the plan is to spin off EH into a charity (a National Trust clone as someone put it) but split off the heritage protection into its own department???? entity??? something else. It is not exactly clear who will pay for the National Heritage Protection Service.
Commission, the current governing body appointed by DCMS, will run the National Heritage Protection Service and will licence the English Heritage charity to run the National Heritage Collection.
Does that mean that the government will still pay for the NHPS? Looking at the EH 2011/12 budget of £175.4m we see that £121.4m comes from the government. As I discussed yesterday that is a lot of money to make up for if the government withdraws support. Looking the budget we see that EH spends it as follows:
Grants £31.4m
Heritage Protection and Planning £32.7m
National Collections: £73m
Corporate and Support Services £26.8m
Depreciation costs £6.2m
So what is going to get cut with the £121.4m loss in government funding? Well best case scenario is that the National Heritage Protection Service will be funded by the government. That would mean that they take on the £32.7m of Heritage Protection and Planning (Designation and Listing, Heritage Protection and Managing the Historic Environment). They would also take on a portion of the Corporate and Support Services which are things like HR and office supplies. That leaves about £80m of government funding in other services that the new EH charity might need to take on. £80m, as in the amount that the government is giving the new EH as a goodbye gift. I guess I now know how they got that amount.
Currently EH spends £73m on running the properties and caring for collections and brings in £54m from admissions (15.4) rental and catering income (12.6) membership income (19.7m) other (4.4) donations/grants (1.9). Looking at those sources of income it looks like that all of the income will go to the new EH that will look after the collections. However that is £54m in income against £73m in costs for collections, a shortfall of £19m. That does not even take into the account of the new EHs share of office and depreciation costs which could be an additional £10-15m.
My guess is that new EH will be able to raise some funds but will end up cutting access or staffing to most sites to make up that £19-30m shortfall.
That also leaves grants at £31.4m without any funding sources. Currently £3.4m of grants are spend on Historic Environment which might go with the new National Heritage Protection Service, ASSUMING the government takes up that tab. That still leaves about £28m in grants for things like places of worship (7.2m), buildings and monuments (11.2m), conservation areas (2.3) and other grants (5.6m) in funding that needs to be found.
So what does the future look like? My guess is that grants are either going to be scraped or significantly reduced to near zero. I am guessing to save money the new EH will change both salary scales and pension plans as they will no longer be on a civil service plan. In other words, EH staff will be paid less. At the same time the sites open will be reduced and so will the times open for most sites. It will be a rough couple of years ahead for heritage in England.
English Heritage
June 27, 2013
I know that you are concerned Doug and I’d like to try to convince you that this really is good news for English Heritage and that there is no need to panic! It was actually our idea to ask the Government for a one-off lump sum and permission to form a charity to run the historic properties side of EH so we are in fact really pleased that they have agreed.
Our press release obviously didn’t explain things well enough. At the moment, we have to use about £22 million of our annual grant-in-aid to support the National Heritage Collection but we are increasing the income we earn ourselves all the time and with the new freedom being a charity will bring it is absolutely possible that this part of English Heritage can become self-financing eventually. We don’t have to achieve this by 2015, that is when we start the charity and begin the process towards financial independence so not a scary timetable at all – and there is no plan to cut off state funding from the properties unless and until they achieve financial self-sufficiency. Worth saying that all existing EH staff who work on the properties will be transferred across to the new charity under their current terms and conditions.
It is also good news for the other part of EH that provides heritage protection for England’s wider heritage. This will absolutely continue to receive state funding! Although, like other Government-funded bodies, we are suffering cuts, it’s great that in future less and less will have to be spent on the properties and we can focus it more on all the other things we do such as listing, advising on planning applications, giving grants, running the Heritage at Risk Register and research into areas of heritage which are not yet properly understood.
Both parts of English Heritage will continue to report to the EH Commission which reports directly to the Dept for Culture, Media and Sport so no one is being cut loose to float off into the blue! The difference is that instead of worrying about how to tackle repairs to the National Heritage Collection, it now has a much more secure future. And we will be able to use our continuing annual Government grant to enhance the service we provide to owners, developers and the public so that England’s heritage across the country is understood, valued, cared for and enjoyed.
Beth McHattie
Doug Rocks-Macqueen
June 27, 2013
Thank you for the response Beth. Quick couple of questions- What is the time table? Is there one? What about new staff? Will they have the same terms and conditions as the old ones, pre-charity? What about grants? Will the new National Heritage Protection Service(name to be determined in the future) have the same budget for grants?
None of this is meant as criticism, just concern that more funding is being lost.
Doug
English Heritage
June 27, 2013
You’re welcome Doug. Glad I have been able to clarify a bit. In answer to your questions there is no set timetable. New staff will be recruited on terms which are competitive in the visitor attractions market. The heritage protection service will certainly continue to give grants but just as now, the size of the grants budget will be dependent on the level of Government funding that we get. Last year English Heritage gave out £19.6 million in grants.
Hope that helps!
sarahmay500
June 27, 2013
Hi Beth, what has caused the change of heart? For years EH has been working to increase the income from the properties so that it would be possible to keep them in the same structure as the rest. The last attempt to split was resisted. Why was it suggested this time?
English Heritage
June 27, 2013
Hello Sarah!
Good question. The reason is that with the economy in the state it is in we, like lots of other bodies, are looking at how to raise more money from donors and sponsors and from presenting a more attractive visitor experience. The charity will free the National Heritage Collection part of EH from the sort of Government accounting restrictions that make these things difficult. But don’t worry about dumbing down! Under the terms of its licence, the charity will still be answerable to our Commission for upholding our current core values of authenticity, quality, imagination, responsibility and enjoyment.
Plum
November 16, 2013
I have come to this post rather late on as I have only just discovered it. We own a business in Battle in East Sussex. English Heritage have now closed Battle Abbey during the week for 6 months. I cannot tell you what an enormous impact this has on the town – the town is here because of the Abbey!
Miserable visitors arrive with their friends from abroad to show the 1066 country and it is closed (along with virtually every tourist attraction in East Sussex). As a result of the closure all the businesses in the town see their turnover plummet, people are laid off for the winter months and any money made during the summer vanishes.
To top it all English Heritage have made what was for years and years a free carpark into one that charges £4.50 to park there. They won’t even leave the barrier open so that locals can at least come into the town and support us. English Heritage’s attitude is “It is all about me” with no regard for the town or local community at all.
What they don’t seem to realise is that as the businesses suffer and/or close the government in turn will get less VAT, less PAYE, less Company NI, less corporation tax and rates. The staff who are laid off have to claim benefits. How much does this really cost the the government purse? It makes me furious how incredibly narrow minded their attitude is!
These sites should be open all year round but it looks like with the new cuts and charity status that they might be shut even more. Meanwhile we bust a gut trying to keep our businesses going, protecting our staff’s jobs and keeping our town alive with absolutely no help from English Heritage.
What is the point in English Heritage spending millions of taxpayers money on a new visitors centre and ugly cafe and then not open the wretched thing. If they can’t run it they should hand it over to someone who can. If they were in the same boat as the rest of us and had to pay rates and insurance while we were conveniently closed for the winter then Battle would be a ghost town.