UK Ministers Back Hodge’s Arts Council England Reform Plan, Including Possible Museum Charges for Overseas Visitors
A proposal to charge international visitors for entry to the UK’s national museums has moved a step closer to official consideration, after the UK government signaled support for a sweeping reform agenda for Arts Council England (ACE) set out by Labour peer Margaret Hodge.
In a formal response to Hodge’s review — commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and published last December — ministers said they welcome her “wide-ranging vision of reform” for the arm’s length body that distributes public funding across the arts. The government also cautioned that turning recommendations into policy will require “a phased and balanced approach,” with “difficult choices about funding, timing and prioritisation.”
Hodge framed her report as both a structural reset and a search for new revenue. “My report provides a clear path, with a range of new initiatives that cover everything from new funding models to fundamental systems reform, that will enable ACE to strengthen its key, positive role in sustaining a world-class creative sector for the future,” she said.
At the center of the government’s response is a strong endorsement of the arm’s length principle — the long-standing safeguard intended to keep individual funding decisions insulated from political pressure. Ministers said they “strongly agree” with Hodge that the UK must retain a national arts council and that the arm’s length principle “must be protected.”
The most publicly contentious idea in the package is the suggestion that national museums could charge admission fees to international visitors, while maintaining free entry for UK residents. The government said it believes such a policy could “provide significant benefits” in addressing funding gaps across the cultural sector, and that it will work with museums to “explore options for charging international visitors.”
The notion has already drawn sharp criticism from cultural figures. Alison Cole, director of the Cultural Policy Unit think tank and a former editor of The Art Newspaper, told the Guardian that charging overseas visitors would be a “very bad idea.” Maria Balshaw, the outgoing director of Tate, also pushed back earlier this month, arguing that the optics are troubling: “What does it say to people from the rest of the world if we say, ‘We’ve got your stuff, but we’re going to charge you to come in’? I don’t like that idea.”
Hodge’s review also points to tourism as a potential source of cultural funding through a levy on overnight stays — a mechanism often described as a “tourist tax.” The government noted that it has launched a consultation tied to a new discretionary power for Mayoral Strategic Authorities to introduce a visitor levy on short-term, overnight accommodation. Ministers said the results will be published “in due course.”
Public sentiment may be less resistant to that approach. Research cited from the charity Art Fund found that 72% of respondents supported a tourist levy if it helped subsidize free entry to national museums.
Beyond visitor charges, the review calls for urgent responses to what it describes as a decade of underfunding. Hodge proposed new funding routes linked to philanthropic giving and tax incentives. DCMS said it will provide evidence to HM Treasury on potential new tax reliefs and will soon publish a roadmap aimed at growing “place-based philanthropy” — a model that encourages local giving to support cultural ecosystems outside the most heavily resourced centers.
The government also endorsed Hodge’s recommendation that ACE work with the museum sector on a strategy and long-term plan, developed in close coordination with DCMS and “voices across the sector,” including DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries.
On the operational side, ministers backed a rethink of ACE’s National Portfolio Organisations (NPO) program — the core funding stream for regularly supported institutions and groups. ACE distributes more than £680m annually, and the government agreed with Hodge that application and monitoring requirements have become overly bureaucratic. Up to £8m in new funding has been earmarked to help ACE invest in improved systems, with an aim of making processes less onerous for applicants and grantees.
The government also supported longer funding cycles for NPOs, suggesting rounds of up to five years rather than the current three-year period — a shift that could offer organizations more stability for planning, staffing, and programming.
Hodge additionally urged stronger support for emerging and mid-career arts professionals, recommending a new national program for individuals funded from existing streams. While the government response broadly embraces her reform direction, the practical test will be whether new revenue tools and administrative changes can be implemented without eroding the openness and internationalism that have long been central to the UK museum model.
