UK Government Exempts Heritage and Museum Memberships From New Refund Rules
A looming change to how memberships can be bought and canceled in the UK will not apply to many of the country’s best-known cultural and heritage charities, after the government confirmed an exemption that sector leaders had been pressing for.
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA) — a UK-wide piece of consumer legislation — includes a two-week “cooling-off” period that would allow people to cancel organizational memberships and receive “proportionate refunds,” according to the UK Department for Business and Trade. The act received royal assent under the previous Conservative government and is expected to come into force early next year.
For institutions that rely on memberships as a predictable, year-round revenue stream, the prospect of refunds at scale raised alarms. The National Trust, one of the UK’s largest heritage bodies, has more than five million members.
Hilary McGrady, the National Trust’s director-general, welcomed the government’s decision to exclude certain charitable memberships from the new rules. “Today’s decision comes as a huge relief,” she said in a statement.
In its own statement, a spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade said that “certain memberships of charitable, cultural and heritage organisations will be excluded from the new rules given the unique role they have in preserving and opening up access to the nation’s history, landscapes and cultural collections.”
McGrady argued that the exemption recognizes the civic function of membership charities and protects their ability to deliver public benefit. She said the reforms, if applied to organizations like the National Trust, “could have cost… millions of pounds and hampered our ability to provide public benefit.”
The charity Art Fund UK also endorsed the move, emphasizing the role of membership income in supporting museums and galleries nationwide. A spokesperson pointed to Art Fund’s National Art Pass membership scheme as “direct funding for our charitable work,” adding that the exclusion from additional regulation is “a positive step” that will help safeguard sustainability and maintain access to culture.
The decision follows warnings issued last year by leaders at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Trust, and Tate, who cautioned that the proposed consumer rules could undermine their membership models — a cornerstone of many UK institutions’ financial planning.
Government guidance suggests the exemption will likely cover museums that are charities and run membership schemes aligned with their charitable purpose. As the Department for Business and Trade spokesperson put it, a museum would likely fall within the carve-out if it operates “a membership scheme that allows consumers to attend performances, see collections or visit places which are related to their charitable purpose.” The spokesperson added that organizations may need to review their own structures to determine whether they qualify.
With the DMCCA set to take effect next year, the exemption offers cultural charities a measure of stability at a moment when many institutions are still balancing public access with the realities of operating costs. The finer points now shift to implementation: how individual organizations define their membership benefits, and how clearly the boundary is drawn between consumer subscriptions and charitable support.
