C&E 3
7 March 2001
FREE ADMISSION TO NATIONAL MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES
Britain's main national museums and galleries will receive refunds of VAT when they allow free admission to the public, the Chancellor announced today.
A new scheme will allow the main national museums and galleries to provide free admissions and still recover the VAT they incur on the things that they buy, removing this barrier to free entry. The Government hopes that national museums and galleries will take advantage of this scheme to move rapidly to free entry, opening up these great cultural institutions to the public.
Chris Smith, the Secretary of State for Culture, said:
?I am delighted with the Chancellor's announcement. The new scheme recognises the unique part our national museums and galleries play in British cultural life. I will now work with the museums to ensure that together we deliver the Government's objective that everyone should have free access to these main national museums and galleries.?
The Government will be consulting museums and galleries on the detail of the scheme, which will be introduced by September 2001. However, eligible museums and galleries which do not currently charge will be able to recover the VAT they incur from 1 April 2001.
DETAILS
1. The Government is committed to universal access to the main national museums and galleries. These include the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Natural History Museum, the Imperial War Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate Britain and Tate Modern, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Museum of London, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Wallace Collection, and national museums and galleries in the devolved regions.
2. The universal access policy already provides free entry for children and pensioners to the main national museums and galleries, and this was to have been extended in September 2001 with the ?Quids In? scheme, allowing £1 entry for adults.
3. Organisations whose activities are undertaken for no charge are not considered ?in business? for VAT purposes, and any VAT they incur in relation to these activities cannot therefore be recovered. For many national museums and galleries, VAT therefore creates an incentive for them to charge for admissions, so that they can recover the VAT they incur on the things that they buy.
4. Under the new scheme announced today, all those main national museums and galleries that allow free admissions will be refunded the VAT they incur on their purchases. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is confident this will mean that all the national museums and galleries it sponsors will move to free entry.
5. Museums policy is devolved, but this new VAT scheme applies across the UK, so museums in the devolved countries can also reclaim VAT without charging for entry.
6. The scheme will be introduced by legislation in the upcoming Finance Bill, with a list of eligible museums and galleries to be drawn up in parallel. The refunds will apply to all non-charging main national museums and galleries, at a cost of around £15 million per year, and will come into effect no later than September 2001. However, eligible museums and galleries which do not currently charge will be able to recover the VAT they incur from 1 April 2001. Customs will shortly be writing to these bodies and their sponsor departments to set out the details of the scheme.
NOTES FOR EDITORS
1. Many of the main national museums and galleries already allow universal free access, including the British Museum, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Wallace Collection, Tate Britain and Tate Modern.
2. Further information is contained in Budget Notice BN 70/01, available from Customs and Excise Business Advice Centres and the Customs and Excise Internet site.
HM Customs and Excise Press Office:
Media enquiries to:
020 7865 5471 / 5472.
out of hours:
020 7620 1313.
HM Customs and Excise information is on the Internet:
External links
Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Press Office:
Media enquiries:
020 7211 6276
DCMS information is on the Internet: