Inflation, rising costs, falling donations… while the Victoria & Albert Museum is going through difficult economic times, management has unveiled a voluntary departure plan across all of its sites. If the museum presents its decision as a necessity aimed at ensuring its longevity through management “cautious” of its finances, the unions see it as an arbitrage of expenses in favor of a development strategy.
In a context where government subsidies are increasing less quickly than inflation and public aid represents 42% of its revenue, the V&A wants to anticipate a drop in this funding. Inflation leads to an increase in operating and salary costs: the balance sheet for the 2025-2026 financial year shows an increase in salary costs of around 7 million pounds (€8.2 million) compared to the previous year (from 50.8 million to 57.5 million). If the attendance figures are encouraging, with 4.5 million visitors in the year 2025-2026 compared to 3.96 million in 2024-2025, the museum’s revenues reflect a drop in expenditure per visitor. Donations and bequests also fell by almost 10 million pounds (€12 million) in one year.
If salary costs have indeed increased, the unions denounce an arbitrage of expenses towards an objective of expansion, to the detriment of the demands of employees, who have been heard during several strike movements in recent months. The PCS, the main union of British government agencies, particularly pointed out the general funds available to the institution and which could, according to its representatives, be allocated to employees.
The V&A has 72.1 million pounds (85 million euros) in reserves, of which 66.1 million are allocated to real estate and IT investments as well as to cover future operational deficits. Their use is at the heart of the disagreement between management and the unions: “the 72 million corresponds to our reserves, which we saved voluntarily during a period of strong commercial performance in order to ensure our long-term financial viability”defended the V&A in a response to the PCS published in the Museums Journal.
For the 2025-2026 financial year, the V&A has an accounting deficit of 5 million pounds (5.9 million euros), mainly linked to asset depreciation, while its income exceeds its current expenses. If certain expenditure planned by the V&A concerns necessary works, linked in particular to adaptation to high heat and the risk of flooding, other investments would not necessarily be appropriate. In 2025, the V&A opened a Storehouse in Stratford, and the East Museum site was opened in April 2026.
The V&A’s announcement aroused concern and frustration among employees, who raised the consequences that a reduction in staff numbers would have on their workload, which was already excessive according to union members. For its part, the V&A claims to have responded to the demands of its workforce by proposing in particular an average increase of 4.18% and 6.9% for the lowest paid employees. Announced on the eve of the union action at the South Kensington site on September 25, the voluntary departure plan was interpreted as “a punitive measure”according to the testimony of an employee reported by the Museums Journal.
