UK National Gallery To Recoup £2M A Year After Completing Voluntary Redundancy Process The Art Newspaper International Art News And Events

London's National Gallery says it has reached its target of £2m in annual savings, a step that helps it confront an anticipated £8.2m deficit without resorting to compulsory redundancies. The savings come from two measures: £1.5m a year through staff departures under a voluntary exit scheme announced in February, and a further £500,000 through a recruitment pause.

A spokesperson said the measures mean the gallery has delivered the savings it set out to achieve through the voluntary exit scheme. The news was first reported by Arts Professional and later confirmed by the institution. Nearly 500 employees across the gallery and its commercial arm were told in February that they could receive compensation if they chose to leave, with payments based on length of service. The gallery has not disclosed how many staff accepted the offer.

The exit scheme appears to have removed the immediate prospect of compulsory layoffs, but the financial pressure is not over. The gallery still needs to find additional savings in non-staff costs to address a projected £6.2m deficit in the current financial year, which began on April 1, as well as an estimated £2m shortfall from the year just ended.

Those next decisions are likely to affect the institution's public-facing program. Possible consequences include fewer free exhibitions, fewer ticketed shows each year, reduced international borrowing, and higher admission prices. In February, a spokesperson said the gallery“must make difficult and painful decisions.”

Even so, the National Gallery says its financial strain will not alter its long-term expansion plans. Last Tuesday, it announced that Kengo Kuba and Associates will design the new extension on the site of St Vincent House. The building is expected to cost about £350m and forms part of Project Domani, a wider £750m plan intended to secure the gallery's financial future and broaden its collection beyond early 20th-century painting to the present. One element of that plan is an endowment fund designed to help the institution weather future crises.

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