Arts Council England, Grant-in-Aid and National Lottery Distribution 2020/21
## **ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS 2020/21**
For the year ended 31 March 2021
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HC 288
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ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND GRANT-IN-AID AND NATIONAL LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2020/21
Presented to Parliament pursuant to sections 34(3) and 35(5) of the National Lottery Act 1993 (as amended by the National Lottery Act 1998 and National Lottery Act 2006).
Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on 9th December 2021
HC 288
© ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND COPYRIGHT 2021
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Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at www.gov.uk/official-documents.
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Arts Council England The Hive 49 Lever Street Manchester M1 1FN Website: www.artscouncil.org.uk Phone: 0845 300 6200 Email: enquiries@artscouncil.org.uk Textphone: +44(0) 161 934 4428
ISBN 978-1-5286-2578-4 CCS0521505204 12/2021 Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum Printed in the UK Printed in the UK by HH Associates Ltd. on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
## Contents
|**01.**|Chair’s report|02|
|---|---|---|
|**02.**|Chief Executive’s report|06|
|**03.**|Performance report|14|
|**04.**|Remuneration report|34|
|**05.**|Sustainability report|42|
|**06.**|Trustees’ report and management commentary|50|
|**07.**|Strategic report|72|
|**08.**|Grant-in-Aid accounts|90|
|**09.**|Lottery distribution accounts|138|
|**10.**|National Lottery report|168|
|Image credits||178|
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
01.
Cliair's
reporl
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
## Sir Nicholas Serota CH
CHAIR, ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
This Annual Report gives an account of the Arts Council’s response to Covid-19. In doing so, it covers perhaps the most unusual and testing period in our 75 year history. In normal times we invest public money to strengthen the cultural sector and ensure that more and more people can enjoy the benefits of creativity and culture. Over the last year, our mission has been to preserve the cultural sector from total collapse.
At the beginning of the pandemic, we moved quickly to marshal resources, using our reserves and available strategic funds to create a £160million Emergency Response Fund, which was designed to help artists and cultural organisations survive the initial shock of closure. Through this Fund we awarded £17.1million to 7,484 individuals, £47.4million to 2,182 organisations outside the Arts Council’s National Portfolio, and £33million to 195 National Portfolio Organisations and Creative People and Places cohorts, alongside £6.25million to a series of cultural sector benevolent funds for distribution to individual artists and performers.
However, this investment could only help organisations survive the first few months of the crisis, notwithstanding the valuable support that the Chancellor had given to all working businesses through the furlough scheme. We were therefore extremely grateful in July when the Government announced their initial £1.57billion Culture Recovery Fund (later increased by £300million). Under the aegis of the Culture Recovery Board, the Arts Council has worked to distribute this support alongside
Historic England, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the British Film Institute, and the other UK Arts Councils.
The first round of awards from the Fund, announced in October, was designed to help cultural organisations weather the continuing financial hardships caused by lockdown. This round was made up of two sets of grants totalling £430million, £165million of repayable loans offered to organisations requesting more than £3million, and another set of grants totalling £60million to help organisations restart and complete capital projects which had accrued extra costs because of the pandemic.
We announced a second round of awards at the beginning of April 2021, consisting of £261million of grants and £81million of repayable loans. These awards were designed to meet the needs of cultural organisations as they begin to reopen in the period from April to July 2021. A third round, which was announced in the summer, will focus on the evolving needs of the sector between July and December as we begin to rebuild and address questions of what a more stable future for culture might look like.
Distributing this investment has been a huge undertaking, and has required a transformation in our ways of working. We have successfully handled more than 27,000 grant applications (to be compared with 17,000 in a normal year), enabling us to distribute awards at an unprecedented speed to meet the urgent needs of the sector. We have also processed a 60% increase in customer service enquiries, and redesigned our National Lottery Project Grants, Developing Your Creative Practice and Artsmark programmes to address the evolving needs of artists and cultural organisations during the pandemic. The willingness of
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colleagues across the organisation to support this work while also fulfilling their usual roles and adapting to the challenges of working from home has been a vital part of our response. I pay tribute to the leadership given by the senior executive team under Darren Henley and to the commitment and dedication of staff across the whole organisation.
I also want to again extend my thanks to the Culture Secretary at the time, Oliver Dowden, to Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, and to our colleagues at DCMS for their support. The Culture Recovery Fund is the biggest single investment in culture in the UK’s history, and the cultural sector would not have survived in any recognisable form without it.
It also demonstrates that the Government understands the fundamental role culture plays in the life of people in his country and the contribution that it will make to recovery in all parts of the United Kingdom.
At an individual level, taking part in creative activities is at the centre of many people’s social lives, and is essential for their health and wellbeing. Indeed, the disappearance of individual and collective engagement in culture is one of the things that has made this pandemic so difficult for many people. In its absence we appreciate more than ever the importance of being able to gather and share experiences that show us something out of the ordinary, and encourage us to view the world in a different light.
Culture is also integral to the strength of communities around the country. In recent years we have the seen the regenerative impact of culture on such diverse places as Margate, Hull, Stoke-on-Trent and Waltham Forest in East London. At a time when high streets are suffering from the decline of retail, cultural organisations are often located in a place where they can bring desperately needed visitors back into town centres. They can also be hugely beneficial for local economies, as creative businesses find innovative new purposes for disused spaces, which generate productive and rewarding jobs in areas that have lost traditional industries.
Culture has a similar role in the national economy. Last year we published our latest
report into the economic value of culture by the Centre for Economic and Business Research. It found that the cultural sector contributes more to the economy than agriculture, forestry and fishing combined, and will add £13.5billion in 2022, rising to £15.2billion by 2025. Cultural organisations form an indispensable pipeline for the talent, skills and ideas that fuel the wider creative industries and the CEBR report suggested that an agile cultural and creative sector would make an invaluable contribution to our economic recovery.
The cultural sector also makes a huge contribution to England’s international prominence in fields such as visual arts, film, TV, music, theatre and video gaming, which has an incalculable benefit for our international reputation and soft power.
The pandemic has shaped our year, but the events and debates following the murder of George Floyd, and the recognition that racism continues to be an issue in the UK as well as in America, caused the National Council to look again at whether it was doing enough to address the barriers to enjoyment and engagement in the arts that race and disability create for many people in this country. It has established Race and Disability Advisory Groups, each led by a member of National Council with support from Area Council members, which will help to develop policy and initiatives that address the issues.
As we emerge from the pandemic the work of the Arts Council will be shaped by our 10 Year Strategy, _Let’s Create_ . It sets out three Outcomes and four Investment Principles that will inform how we work up to 2030.
The Outcomes – Creative People, Cultural Communities, and A Creative and Cultural Country – set out the impact we want to have, and the kind of country we want to help create. It is one where every person has the chance to develop their own creativity, and where all of our communities are able to make the most of the benefits culture can deliver. They will be supported by a cultural sector that harnesses the full range of our country’s talent, and collaborates with the best artists and cultural organisations from around the world to strengthen our position as an international leader in the arts and creative industries.
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The Investment Principles – Ambition & Quality, Inclusivity & Relevance, Dynamism, and Environmental Responsibility – describe the kinds of organisations that we want to invest in to help us get there. They are organisations that strive to produce extraordinary creative work, drawing on the talents of people from every background and every part of the country, in spaces where everyone feels welcome. They are conscious of the environmental impact of their work, and they are innovative in their use of public funding, leveraging their skills in finance and technology to deliver the exciting programmes that represent the best possible return on the investment that is being made by taxpayers and National Lottery players.
The four Principles have guided us throughout this crisis, and they will be at the heart of our work as we begin to rebuild. In the coming years, the Arts Council will need to help organisations adapt their business models to address the challenges of the post-pandemic world in a way that supports their social and environmental responsibilities. We will need to work harder than ever to remove the barriers people face in taking part in culture, some of which have been exacerbated by the pandemic. And we will need to encourage the kinds of research, development and collaboration which have necessarily taken a backseat during this crisis, but which are so essential for the creative progress that drives our sector forward.
None of this will be easy, but I believe that the Arts Council can rise to the challenge. The Arts Council was born out of crisis, having been founded in 1946 to help culture to flourish in the aftermath of the Second World War. Back then, the cultural sector proved it had much to offer to a nation healing from an unprecedented trauma. Covid-19 is of course a crisis of a very different kind. But if we give artists and cultural organisations the support they need, if we do everything we can to make sure that culture is relevant to everyone, if we continue reaching for the heights that we know our sector is capable of achieving, then culture can once again help us, as a nation, to grieve for those we have lost, restore our faith in the future, and begin to move forward.
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# Chief Executive’s report
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ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
Dr Darren Henley OBE
CHIEF EXECUTIVE, ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
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As we come to the end of our second year of living with Covid-19, I am cautiously optimistic about the prospect for culture and creativity in England. We all hope that the coming months will see audiences continuing to return and visitor numbers grow as we begin to heal from the damage wrought by the pandemic.
But as we look forward, we should also acknowledge the sustaining role that the arts, museums and libraries have already played throughout this crisis. I have always believed in the power of culture as a force for good, and it has been heartening to see the lengths to which cultural organisations have gone to over the last year to continue making a positive impact on the world around them.
There have been many brilliant displays of innovation and community spirit. English National Opera, for example, produced the world’s first fully staged drive-in opera at London’s Alexandra Palace, which was also broadcast on Sky Arts. Meanwhile, the National Holocaust Centre in Nottinghamshire developed an app which takes primary school pupils inside the journey of a Kindertransport refugee, allowing them to access the museum’s interactive approach to learning at home. Liverpool literature charity the Reader launched a telephone reading project to support isolated older people, while staff at Suffolk Libraries even went as far as to record a bespoke audio book for one of their elderly users who wanted to listen to her favourite childhood story.
The fact that there has been such demand for cultural organisations to continue their work, even during this crisis, demonstrates the enormous value that people place on culture. It also reminds all of us at the Arts Council why we do what we do. Although our work may sometimes appear technical or bureaucratic, the big picture is about one thing – making people happier.
There is huge potential for culture to continue doing that as we emerge from the pandemic. People are feeling isolated and disconnected after a year of lockdown. Many of us feel uncertain about how to readjust to a more normal way of life. Community spirit and social lives have been superseded by the need for safety, and town centres have been hollowed out by the collapse of retail businesses, an ongoing process accelerated by Covid-19.
Culture can help us to thrive again. Museums, libraries, theatres, galleries, music venues, arts centres and other cultural organisations can provide opportunities for people to make connections with those around them, to express their feelings about what they have been through, and to feel pride in where they live. They can strengthen community ties, bringing together people from different backgrounds to celebrate their creativity, shared interests, history and heritage.
That can only happen though, if culture makes an effort to reach a wider audience. Too many people in England still feel that culture isn’t for them – they feel that a career in the creative industries is out of reach, they don’t feel that their creativity is valued, and they don’t feel welcome in cultural spaces.
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So, there is more for us to do to make things fairer. The Arts Council invests money from taxpayers and National Lottery players who come from all kinds of backgrounds and live in villages, towns and cities across the country. We have to make sure that our funding delivers a return for everyone, in all parts of England, in a way that complements the Government’s broader ‘levelling up’ agenda.
These inequities also prevent us from creating the strongest possible cultural sector, and deprive the country as a whole of the benefits that creativity can deliver. There are people who are every bit as talented as the artists we see in our most prestigious cultural institutions, but whose work remains unseen because they are unaware of the opportunities available and do not, therefore, access them. And there are a multitude of public health and social issues that could be addressed through cultural interventions, if only people from all communities felt there was something on offer they found meaningful.
Rectifying this imbalance is one of the core aims of our 10-year Strategy, _Let’s Create_ , which includes Inclusivity & Relevance as one of its four Investment Principles. This Principle is our commitment to making cultural spaces welcoming to people from all backgrounds, and ensuring that England’s cultural sector reflects the demographics of the country as a whole – in the work it creates, in the leadership, governance and workforces of its organisations, and in the audiences it reaches.
Whether it’s the work of our writers, actors, directors, dancers, choreographers, musicians, composers, painters, sculptors, producers, programmers or curators, we are famous the world over for our creativity. It is important that we invest in the cultural institutions that enable this work to happen every day. But it is also important that we invest in the people who make it happen too. So, at the Arts Council we want to develop all of our national talent, with people from villages, towns and cities right across England, people from every ethnicity, people with and without disabilities, people from every socio-economic background
all having the chance to have their creative voices heard. That is the way that our national creativity will continue to thrive. It’s how we will develop our national story of creativity, of innovation and of invention well into the 21st century.
Creating this kind of cultural sector is a winwin scenario. And it’s not just about investing in the highest quality work – although this must always be the central pillar of what we do. It’s also about fairness and opportunity. It means that we can draw on the broadest possible pool of talent to build a cultural sector that takes full advantage of England’s unique history and diversity. It means that people throughout the country can enjoy the benefits of creativity and culture. And it means bigger, more engaged audiences for artists and cultural organisations. As a recent assessment of our Creative People and Places programme noted, ‘if art pays attention to more people, more people will pay attention to art.’
But making the leap to this kind of sector will only be possible if we give our artists and cultural organisations the support they need to rebuild from the devastation of the pandemic. Our Delivery Plan for _Let’s Create_ , which we began publishing in March, outlines how we will begin to do that over the next three years.
The Delivery Plan focuses on the areas that we believe are in most urgent need of attention if we are to make the vision of _Let’s Create_ a reality. It covers our plans to help organisations to adopt ‘fit for the future’ business models, the ways we will support cultural sector freelancers, our commitment to enabling international touring and collaboration, and the work we will do to encourage the arts to contribute to placemaking and levelling up, as well as discussion of the internal changes that will need to happen at the Arts Council to support these actions.
There have been questions about whether now is the right time to set out such ambitious plans for the future. It is true that many cultural organisations are still focused on survival rather than creating work. But it is equally true that
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most are also looking to the future. They know that they have to innovate in order to remain relevant to their audiences in the aftermath of the pandemic, to make art that responds meaningfully to such an enormous crisis, and to capitalise on the social, economic and technological trends emerging from a year of social distancing.
In these circumstances, it is right that Arts Council England leads the way. We do not have the option of going back to how things were; we need to be ambitious, and to do everything in our power to make the most of this unique moment in history. With the ideas and actions set out in _Let’s Create_ and its Delivery Plan, I believe we are doing just that.
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CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT 09
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ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
## Our key numbers for 2020/21
## **Our total income (£m)**
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1600
1400
1200
1000
800 1,234
600
493
400
200
249 254
0
2019/20 2020/21
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**LOTTERY GRANT-IN-AID**
## **Our expenditure 2020/21 (£m)**
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Culture Recovery Funds Grants
National Portfolio Organisations
Emergency Response Fund
Other Grants
Music Education Hubs
Capital
Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants
Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants
Other Grants
Capital 58 [49]
71
Music Education Hubs
78 689 Culture Recovery Funds Grants
Emergency Response Fund 105
340
National Portfolio Organisations
10 OUR KEY NUMBERS
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NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS PROCESSED NUMBER OF GRANTS AWARDED
2020/21 2020/21
18,130 2019/20
27,899
2019/20
4,999
13,223
Investment and Development Funds
The Investment and Development Funds awarded by Arts Council
England during 2020/21 were as follows:
DEVELOP YOUR CREATIVE 7.7M
PRACTICE
CREATIVE PEOPLE AND 7.6M
PLACES FUND
INVESTMENT PRINCIPLES 4.3M
CULTURAL COMMUNITIES 4.2M
CREATIVE AND CULTURAL
4M
COUNTRY
OTHER INVESTMENT FUNDS 3.2M
OTHER DEVELOPMENT FUNDS 1.2M
£0M £1M £2M £3M £4M £5M £6M £7M £8M £9M
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OUR KEY NUMBERS 11
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## **The value and number of grant awards by funding source and high-level budget category are set out below:**
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2020/21 2019/20 2020/21 2019/20
NUMBER NUMBER AVERAGE AVERAGE
ARTS COUNCIL PROGRAMME EXPENDITURE 2020/21 2020/21 2019/20 OF OF VALUE VALUE
COMPARISON TO 2019/2020: £M £M GRANTS GRANTS £M £M
GRANT IN AID
NATIONAL PORTFOLIO ORGANISATIONS 340 336 694 697 0.49 0.48
ARTS COUNCIL PROJECT GRANTS 2 – 79 21 0.03 0.01
DEVELOPMENT FUNDS 6 16 151 619 0.04 0.03
CAPITAL 69 27 77 50 0.90 0.54
MUSIC EDUCATION HUBS 78 77 150 124 0.52 0.62
OTHER RESTRICTED 11 11 98 78 0.11 0.14
CRF REPAYABLE FINANCE 252 – 36 – 7.00 –
CULTURE INVESTMENT FUND 8 – 9 – 0.89 –
CULTURE RECOVERY FUNDS GRANTS 689 – 4,421 – 0.16 –
EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUND 19 – 5,422 – – –
GIA CULTURE RECOVERY FUND GRANTS – – 7 – – –
LOTTERY
NATIONAL PORTFOLIO ORGANISATIONS – 1 – 149 – 0.01
ARTS COUNCIL NATIONAL LOTTERY PROJECT 58 102 2,867 4543 0.02 0.02
DEVELOPMENT FUNDS 22 77 880 134 0.03 0.57
CAPITAL 2 8 4 3 0.50 2.67
EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUND 86 – 4,440 – 0.02 –
TOTAL 1,642 655 19,335 6,418 0.09 0.10
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## Our organisation
## HOW WE MAKE THINGS HAPPEN
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578
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## **FTE EMPLOYEES**
## **92%**
of staff in our November survey who agree technology has enabled them to do their job remotely
**0.00%** Median Gender pay Gap as at 1st April 2020
14.3% Black, Asian or Ethnically Diverse employees. (5% increase over the last 3 years)
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9
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## **OFFICES**
**7.60m[2]** space per FTE
Local presence with 9 offices across England
77% of our office space (and 71% of our workforce) is located outside Central London
Roll-out “Smart Working” project now complete, reducing costs
## 85 **GOVERNANCE BODY MEMBERSHIP**
**15** National Council members
**5** Area Councils
## **73%**
of staff in our November survey who said they felt supported by ACE with their wellbeing.
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03. Arts Council Performance 2020/21
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
## Inevitably, this year’s Annual Report will look different to previous years.
At the beginning of 2020 we published our new 10-year Strategy, _Let’s Create_ . It marks a change in how we talk about our objectives as an organisation, moving from the five Goals of the previous Strategy, _Great Art and Culture for Everyone_ , to a set of three Outcomes:
- Creative People – ensuring that everyone has the chance to develop and express their own creativity
- Cultural Communities – making sure that people in villages, towns and cities across the country have access to the highest quality cultural experiences
- A Creative and Cultural Country – enabling England’s cultural sector to be innovative and collaborative, and able to support our country’s creative industries, national economy and place on the world stage
To support achievement of these outcomes, we have adopted four Investment Principles:
The Investment Principles describe the kind of cultural sector we want to build, and the sorts of organisations that we believe are worthwhile recipients of public investment – those that are welcoming to people from all backgrounds and committed to creating the highest quality work, in a way that is both sustainable enough to continue in the long term and flexible enough to respond to challenges as they arise.
These Outcomes and Investment Principles are the guiding force behind our plans to help the cultural sector recover from the pandemic and build a better future for creativity and culture in England.
This year’s performance section has two parts. It begins by examining our progress against objectives around our response to Covid-19, which have been informed by the Outcomes and Investment Principles of _Let’s Create_ . The second part is a selection of case studies, which highlight how we have begun to work towards the _Let’s Create_ Outcomes despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Ambition & Quality
- Inclusivity & Relevance
- Dynamism
- Environmental Responsibility
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## Our Covid-19 response objectives
When the impact of the pandemic on the sector became apparent in March 2020, we established three objectives to help us support the sector.
The first of these was to **secure the creative and cultural ecology over the short term** . As soon as lockdown restrictions began to be discussed, it was clear that they would have a devastating impact on the cultural sector. We would therefore need to ensure that our cultural organisations and freelancers could weather the immediate financial hardships caused by the pandemic.
The second was that in **designing and delivering the relief programmes, we take into account the impact that the pandemic is having on different communities** . We knew that people from certain backgrounds and locations faced more barriers to accessing cultural experiences and working in the sector, and that this would likely be made worse by the pandemic. Given what we know about the benefits of access to creativity and culture,
and our belief that diversity is an essential part of enabling the highest quality cultural work, a commitment to fairness and inclusivity in our response was essential.
The third objective was to **provide a fast and flexible response to support the sector through the impact of the pandemic** . Since the situation was changing rapidly, we needed to make sure that the Arts Council worked as flexibly as possible, so we could adapt and respond to events as they unfolded. This would help us to meet the changing needs of the people and organisations who rely on our funding, and put our staff in the best possible position to support the sector by enabling them to work effectively from home.
By working towards these objectives, we believe we have been able to make the best use of our limited resources and help put the cultural sector in the strongest possible position to bounce back as we begin to move on from this crisis.
## Part One: Our Pandemic Response in 2020/21
**OBJECTIVE 1: SECURE THE FINANCIAL RESILIENCE OF THE CREATIVE AND CULTURAL ECOLOGY OVER THE SHORT-TERM**
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£923m 18,134 14,903
AWARDS INDIVIDUALS SUPPORTED
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DISTRIBUTED
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ARTS COUNCIL PERFORMANCE 2020/21 17
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## EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUNDS
Shortly after the first lockdown began, we announced our Emergency Response Funds to help cultural organisations and freelancers survive the financial hardship they were facing. Supporting the sector in this way
meant we had to distribute large amounts of funding at an unprecedented speed, and required substantial changes to our usual processes.
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i £
Lockdown ERF Announced Guidance published Round 1 portal Decisions: Rolling
23 March 24 March 31 March opened: 7 April over 4 weeks
Round 2 portal Payments made
opened: 16 April within 10-14 days
of submitted bank
details
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£17.1m £33.6m
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£47.6m
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INDIVIDUALS
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NPO/CPP ORGANISATIONS
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ADDITIONAL
ORGANISATIONS
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The Emergency Response Funds were divided into three funds, one focusing on individual creative practitioners, another on organisations without a regular funding relationship with the Arts Council, and a third directed at our regularly funded National Portfolio Organisations and Creative People and Places organisations. Funds one and two opened in April and the third opened in May, with awards announced from June.
To support this work, we suspended our National Lottery Project Grants and Developing Your Creative Practice programmes, as well as our Development Funds for 2020/21. The
budgets for these funding streams were reallocated to the Emergency Response Funds, along with nearly all our reserves. We also adapted payment conditions for all National Portfolio Organisations for six months from March to September and agreed to extend the current Portfolio by a year (to run until 2022/23), with a light touch application process.
Almost 90 per cent of the budget for the Emergency Response Funds came from the National Lottery, with the remainder made up of our core Government funding.
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Amount awarded by discipline
COMBINED ARTS £13.07M
DANCE £4.51M
FILM £0.25M
LIBRARIES £0.14M
LITERATURE £2.46M
MUSEUMS £2.39M
MUSIC £9.49M
NOT DISCIPLINE
£5.22M
SPECIFIC
OTHER/
£0.43M
NOT KNOWN
THEATRE £15.10M
VISUAL ARTS £11.66M
£0M £5M £10M £15M £20M
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EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUNDS FOR INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANISATIONS OUTSIDE OF THE NATIONAL PORTFOLIO
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13,6k 9,665 71.1% £64.72m
Applicants Awards Applications Awarded Awarded
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## SECTOR ENGAGEMENT, RESEARCH AND EVIDENCE
While delivering the Emergency Response Funds, we also worked closely with Government, the cultural sector, and external stakeholders to gather evidence about the impact of the pandemic. This included holding a series of virtual round table meetings with representatives from across the sector, focusing on a variety of disciplines and themes.
We shared this evidence with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to support the case for Government intervention to help the cultural sector. It also fed into our own thinking and planning around how the Arts Council could best support the sector in the future as we look to move from crisis into recovery.
## CULTURE RECOVERY FUND
In July, the Government announced its £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund (increased to £1.96 billion in February’s budget) to support the sector through the pandemic. In England
the grant making process has been delivered by Arts Council England, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, British Film Institute, and Historic England.
CULTURE RECOVERY FUND **£1.57BN**
of which Arts Council distributed **£750m** through
Culture Recovery Grants **£687m**
Round 1: **£423m** (2,013 awards) Round 2: **£265m** (2,279 awards)
Emergency Grassroots Music Venues **£3.37m** (136 venues across the country)
Capital Kickstart Fund **£58.9m** (74 awards)
20 ARTS COUNCIL PERFORMANCE 2020/21
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
The first round of the fund was designed to help cultural organisations address the initial financial shock of closure. For this round, the Government made up to £500 million available for the Arts Council’s Culture Recovery Fund: Grants programme, with a further £270 million available as Repayable Finance. Repayable Finance was administered on behalf of DCMS and overseen by an independent, decision making body. This round also included an Emergency Grassroots Music Venues Fund, and a Capital Kickstart fund to help organisations restart capital projects that had accrued extra costs because of the pandemic.
Applications to the Grants, Repayable Finance and Capital Kickstart programmes opened in August 2020, and we received over 3,000 applications.
The second round of the Culture Recovery Fund was announced in December 2020. It was made up of another round of Grants and Repayable Finance, and was intended to support cultural organisations’ transition back to a viable and sustainable operating model between April and June 2021.
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4,502 £749,605,196
Number Awarded
of Awards Amount
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£88.66m
£234.75m
£104.94m
ACE AREA
£121.66m £199.60m
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LONDON NORTH SOUTH EAST MIDLANDS SOUTH WEST
CULTURE RECOVERY FUND ROUNDS 1 AND 2 (EXCLUDING REPAYABLE FINANCE) – DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS BY AREA
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THEATRE £185M
MUSIC £172M
COMBINED ARTS £135M
NOT DISCIPLINE
£105M
SPECIFIC
MUSEUMS £72M
VISUAL ARTS £43M
DANCE £24M
LITERATURE £8M
OTHER/ £5M
NOT KNOWN
FILM £1M
LIBRARIES £0M
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200
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CULTURE RECOVERY FUND ROUNDS 1 AND 2 (EXCLUDING REPAYABLE FINANCE) – DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS BY ARTFORM
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## SUPPORTING INDIVIDUALS
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£17.1m £6.25m
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£21.6m
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**----- Start of picture text -----**
£7.3m
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## **EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUNDS**
**BENEVOLENT PROJECT FUNDS GRANTS 20/21**
## **DEVELOPING YOUR CREATIVE PRACTICE ROUND 8**
**7,500 awards**
**about 5,000 awards**
**1,682 awards**
**824 awards**
Every part of the cultural sector relies heavily on talented freelancers. We knew at the beginning of the pandemic that protecting cultural organisations would be vital for supporting these freelancers, to ensure there would still be employers for them as the sector re-opened. However, we also recognised the need to provide support directly to freelancers, who, much like organisations, required time to stabilise and plan how to continue their practice under the constraints of Covid-19.
We therefore decided to use our remaining resources to provide more direct support to freelancers, complementing the Culture Recovery Fund’s focus on organisations.
In July, we reopened our National Lottery Project Grants programme, aiming to award at least 50 per cent of all Project Grant awards under £15,000 to individuals. We redesigned several aspects of the programme to make it easier for freelancers to access, such as removing the requirement for applicants to demonstrate a minimum of 10 per cent match funding. We also expanded the fund’s focus to accommodate the unusual circumstances of the pandemic and to allow both individuals and organisations to use Project Grants to support time to think, plan and test new ideas.
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UNDER £15,000 NATIONAL LOTTERY PROJECT GRANTS: AWARDED TO INDIVIDUALS
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£
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**£19.39 million** awarded...
...to **1,575** individuals
...meaning **64.7%** of all under £15,000 Project Grants went to individuals
In October 2020 we also reopened Developing Your Creative Practice, our programme specifically designed to support cultural freelancers. Again, we broadened the programme’s scope to enable more freelancers to access the fund, removing the
limitations on how many times an individual can apply in a 12-month period. We also increased the programme’s budget by £18 million, and as such have significantly increased the number of people supported by these awards compared to previous years.
## DEVELOPING YOUR CREATIVE PRACTICE: AWARDS MADE 2018-2020
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824
£8,000,000
£7,000,000
£6,000,000
£5,000,000
£4,000,000
£3,000,000
£2,000,000
135 147
103 111 100 98 107
£1,000,000
£-
Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 7 Round 8
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**2018 2019 2020**
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## **OBJECTIVE 2: IN DESIGNING AND DELIVERING THE RELIEF PROGRAMMES, TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE IMPACT THAT THE PANDEMIC IS HAVING ON DIFFERENT COMMUNITIES**
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3,579
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2,198 2,290
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## **AWARDS TO BLACK, ASIAN AND ETHNICALLY DIVERSE APPLICANTS**
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AWARDS TO D/deaf AWARDS TO APPLICANTS
AND DISABLED FROM AREAS OF LOW
APPLICANTS ENGAGEMENT
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EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUNDING MADE TO D/DEAF OR DISABLED-LED ORGANISATIONS OR INDIVIDUALS AND BLACK, ASIAN AND ETHNICALLY DIVERSE-LED ORGANISATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS
**D/deaf OR DISABLED INDIVIDUALS OR DISABLED-LED ORGANISATIONS BLACK, ASIAN AND ETHNICALLY DIVERSE INDIVIDUALS OR BLACK, ASIAN AND ETHNICALLY DIVERSE-LED ORGANISATIONS**
24 ARTS COUNCIL PERFORMANCE 2020/21
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EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUNDS SUCCESS RATE BY PROTECTED CHARACTERISTICS AND ENGAGEMENT
**----- Start of picture text -----**
71.1% 71.3% 79.3% 75.2% 77.2% 74.3%
Applicants offered % of individuals % of D/deaf or % of Female % of LGBT % of Black,
funding offered funding disabled led individuals and individuals and Asian and
who are in the 20% organisations led organisations led organisations Ethnically Diverse
of local authority offered funding offered funding offered funding individuals and
areas that are the led organisations
lowest engaged offered funding
with the arts
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AMOUNT OF EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUNDS AWARDED TO INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANISATIONS OUTSIDE OF THE NATIONAL PORTFOLIO, BY PROTECTED CHARACTERISTICS
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Awards made to Black, Asian and £13.1
Ethnically Diverse applicants million
£35.3
Awards made to female applicants million
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**----- Start of picture text -----**
Awards made to D/deaf and disabled £8.5
applicants million
£10.2
Awards made to LGBT applicants million
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PROJECT GRANT AWARDS BY PROTECTED CHARACTERISTICS
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Black, Asian
and Ethnically 672
Diverse
Female
Disability 405
LGBT 566
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1560
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INDIVIDUALS MAY IDENTIFY BY MORE THAN ONE PROTECTED CHARACTERISTIC, THEREFORE PROPORTIONS MAY EXCEED THE TOTAL
ARTS COUNCIL PERFORMANCE 2020/21 25
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From the outset of the pandemic through to the peak of the first wave, evidence began to emerge on the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on people from certain protected characteristic groups. Many of these groups have also been identified as priorities for our work around _Let’s Create_ , for example people from Black, Asian and Ethnically Diverse backgrounds, disabled and D/deaf people people and those from less privileged socioeconomic backgrounds. We are continuing to develop a process to introduce socioeconomic monitoring into our data and intend to roll this out across all programmes by the end of 2021.
When developing and delivering our Emergency Response Funds, we focused on our commitment to ensuring fairer access to funding, as well as our responsibilities under the public sector equality duty. We took a number of measures when designing the Emergency Response Funds to reflect this such as:
- ensuring access support was available for disabled and D/deaf applicants
- setting a higher application ceiling of £3,000 for disabled and D/deaf applicants applying for grants as individuals, to account for additional access support requirements if successful
- prioritising support for disabled-led organisations as part of our balancing criteria
- producing the guidance in a range of alternative formats including Easyread, British Sign Language and large print
- running two rounds for applications, to allow more time for anyone who needed longer to develop their proposal
We also commissioned research on the impact of Covid-19 on the cultural workforce, to look at the effects of the pandemic on people from protected characteristic groups. When we became aware of concerns that cultural sector workers with protected characteristics were losing their jobs at a
higher rate than others, we shared guidance around employers’ duty of care to their workforce, and in particular employees with protected characteristics.
We also developed a series of equality objectives, which questioned whether any decision we took throughout 2020/21 would help to/in:
## **Equality Objectives 2020-21**
Improving access to the sector for disabled, neuro-divergent and D/deaf workers, audiences and participants
Ensure funded organisations and projects improve and can demonstrate meaningful engagement with Black, Asian and Ethnically Diverse workers, audiences and participants
Challenging racism and embedding anti-racism values across all of the Arts Council’s policy and funding decisions
Address specific disadvantages facing Children and Young People and Older People as a result of Covid-19
Improving access to creative and cultural activities to those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds
Using these objectives helped us assess how our work supported the communities most impacted by the pandemic and responded to inequity across the cultural sector.
When we reopened National Lottery Project Grants, we were particularly keen to support projects that closely aligned with our equality objectives, which we supported by prioritising applications from individuals and removing the requirement for successful applicants to contribute 10 per cent of the project costs through match funding. We also continued assessing the equality impact of all our other funding programmes to ensure we met our legal duties.
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## **OBJECTIVE 3: PROVIDE TARGETED, REACTIVE AND FLEXIBLE RESPONSE TO SUPPORT THE SECTOR THROUGH THE IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC**
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111% 263% 63%
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## **INCREASE IN APPLICATIONS PROCESSED**
## **INCREASE IN GRANTS PROCESSED**
## **INCREASE IN CUSTOMER SERVICE ENQUIRIES**
This year the Arts Council has been challenged on two fronts as our focus moved to supporting the sector through the impact of the pandemic. We have seen significant shifts, firstly in the scale and urgency of our work, and secondly, in our working practices following the closure of all our offices.
The nature of our work has been different to that of any other time in the Arts Council’s history, as we have been responding to a national crisis, processing a huge number of grants at a vastly increased speed to help prevent the collapse of the cultural sector.
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ARTS COUNCIL’S DELIVERY 2020/21 COMPARED TO 2019/20
Applications 13,223
processed 27,899
Grants 4,999
processed 18,130
Customer 80,000
Enquiries 130,000
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**----- Start of picture text -----**
+111%
+263%
+63%
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2019/20 2020/21
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Early in the pandemic, we reprioritised our resources and redesigned many of our working processes to maximise our capacity for the increased workload. This ensured we could maintain business continuity while also administering the Emergency Response Funds and Culture Recovery Fund.
## **Business continuity**
The Arts Council administers several statutory functions on behalf of Government, including Export Licensing, the Government Indemnity Scheme, the Acceptance in Lieu and Cultural Gifts schemes, and the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Arts and Objects of Cultural Interest. Most of these functions rely on paper-based processes; however, we were able to either continue or reopen schemes after a brief pause by moving to a digital model.
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Export
Licensing January – October 2020
Unit
5,764 export
5,075
licence
licences
applications
issued
received
Government
Indemnity 1 April 2020 – 31 March 2021
Scheme
624 Total
indemnities value of
issued for indemnities
21,832 items £11.5bn
**----- End of picture text -----**
The Export Licensing Unit had to close to applications at the beginning of the pandemic as it was unable to process paper licences while working from home. However, after launching a redesigned digital licence process, the Export Licensing Unit restarted work on 27 May, and was able to support the sector through the changes that occurred at the end of the transition period following the UK’s exit from the European Union. Since then, the Export Licensing Unit has been providing the same high standard of customer service to exporters as before the pandemic, helping to facilitate trade in the UK art and museum sectors.
The Government Indemnity Scheme remained open, adapting its procedures overnight to extend existing cover, provide alternative cover for postponed, cancelled or rescheduled exhibitions, and issue new indemnities and renewals, as well as developing guidance to help the sector continue to meet the Scheme’s requirements.
## **Working from home**
Like many organisations, our staff have been unable to access our offices for the last year, and we have had to adapt to working from home.
Before the pandemic we had already begun to roll out smart working processes, and we were exploring how technology could help our staff to be more productive and effective, while encouraging collaboration and a work-life balance.
The closure of our offices has accelerated this process, and we have had to provide our staff with resources and tools to complete all of their work from home. Our IT team worked tirelessly to ensure staff were appropriately equipped and supported when we first shifted to homeworking, and since then to keep us connected, optimise our system performance, and keep our systems and data secure.
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Staff wellbeing has been at the heart of our considerations. We have put in place various measures to support our employees’ wellbeing, and make sure they feel connected
and informed about our priorities and our work. These measures have contributed to high levels of staff satisfaction during a very challenging year.
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100%
88% 89% 83% 85% 87%
80% 78%
80% 68% 70% 72% 73%
58%
60%
40%
20%
0%
I feel well informed I still feel able to I have a working set I feel supported with
about what is communicate with up that is comfortable my wellbeing
happening at the colleagues across the
Arts Council organisation
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**MAY SURVEY JUNE/JULY SURVEY NOVEMBER SURVEY**
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## Part Two: Let’s Create Outcomes
The second part of this performance section illustrates how we have begun to approach the Outcomes we want to achieve with our _’_ 10-year Strategy, _Let s Create_ .
Although _Let’s Create_ was published at the beginning of 2020, the full implementation of the Strategy was deferred to allow us to support the cultural sector through Covid-19. However, creative practitioners and cultural organisations have still delivered a variety of programmes that supported the Outcomes of _Let’s Create_ , some of which are highlighted in the case studies below.
## **Outcome 1 – Creative People**
Everyone can be creative, and each of us has the potential to develop our creativity further. Taking part in creative acts such as singing, photography or writing delights and fulfils us, and helps us to think, experiment, and better understand the world.
## **CASE STUDY: The Way I See It**
_The Way I See It_ is the Arts Council’s new online gallery, developed in partnership with Google Arts & Culture. It provides a world-wide platform for the creativity and imagination of children and young people, recognising them as artists.
During the 2020 school summer holidays, children and young people across the country were invited to take part in ‘Summer Challenges’ designed to capture and showcase their creative responses to the pandemic.
These challenges were devised by five cultural organisations.
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead encouraged young people to create sculptures, poetry, films and animations exploring the things they care most about in this world and what they
might want to change, while Heart n Soul in South London delivered _Do Your Own Thing_ sessions that supported young people with learning disabilities to create music, dance, radio, and visual art pieces for the gallery.
North London’s Company Three asked them to create video performances about how it felt to be a teenager living through such a momentous period. In the West Midlands, Dancefest challenged young people to submit a 30-second film showcasing something they had learnt during lockdown.
English National Opera’s challenge saw children across the country making work based on the concept of an aria – a single character sharing their inner emotional world and thoughts with an audience. A poem inspired by _The Way I See It_ was written by spoken-word artist Kieron Rennie and performed as part of a BBC Two broadcast of Mozart’s _Requiem_ live from the London Coliseum.
In October, the open access digital exhibition of over 220 works was launched, bringing together an inspiring, powerful and eclectic mix of art which championed the positive role of culture during the pandemic and celebrated the next generation of creative talent. Much of the artwork in this report is from _The Way I See It._
## **CASE STUDY: ‘Let’s Create’ Packs**
When schools closed in Spring 2020, the Arts Council wanted to make sure that children most in need of support had access to art supplies at home.
Through our network of 10 Bridge organisations, we worked with charities, community groups, food banks and
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schools across the country to get ‘Let’s Create’ packs to as many young people as possible. The packs provided art materials and accessible activities that children could complete without specialist equipment or supervision. Supplies in packs varied and offered lots of scope for being creative; however each contained materials for mark making (pencils, pens, paper) and a sheet of simple creative ideas for children devised by Global Teacher Prize winner, Andria Zafirakou.
The Arts Council provided funding and co-ordinated with suppliers, while Bridge organisations worked with schools and other local organisations to create and distribute as many packs as possible to the areas where they were needed most. Thanks to their work, 44,960 packs were delivered to children and families across England between May and October 2020, many of whom were living in poverty or were considered vulnerable, including children in care.
Recipients of the _Let’s Create_ packs had many positive things to say. Parents said that children were excited to receive them, that they ‘absolutely loved them’ and ‘got a lot out of them’.
## **CASE STUDY:**
## **Music Education Hubs, Norfolk**
Throughout 2020, music-making has been more important than ever for many people, providing a creative release as well as a means of socialising with friends and other musicians online. That can be especially true for young people, and Music Education Hubs have worked hard during lockdown to remain accessible to pupils across the country.
Norfolk Music Education Hub was one of many organisations that responded quickly to the challenges brought by social distancing by developing a range of digital resources and virtual events. They also
collaborated with new partners and Hubs across the country on exciting projects.
One remarkable project they led was _Virtual Big Sing_ , a digital concert which brought together over 100,000 children and young people from 37 Music Education Hubs. Organisers are planning to repeat the event on an even bigger scale in 2021. Another success for the Hub was _Rapunzel the Lockdown Pantomime_ which reached over 200,000 children and young people in December 2020.
Providing more events and resources online has helped Norfolk Music Education Hub significantly increase the size and diversity of their audiences, communicate with partners, and offer more digital activity than ever before. They intend to continue this approach, alongside in-person tuition and events, after the pandemic.
## **Outcome 2 – Cultural Communities**
Culture and the experiences it offers can have a deep and lasting effect on places and the people who live in them. Investment in cultural activities and in arts organisations, museums and libraries helps us improve lives, regenerate neighbourhoods, support local economies, attract visitors and bring people together.
## **CASE STUDY: Thriving Communities Fund**
In November 2020 we launched the Thriving Communities Fund, an investment programme designed to promote social prescribing in communities around the country. The Fund focuses especially on the people and communities that have been hardest hit by the pandemic, and the voluntary organisations that work with them.
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In partnership with the National Academy for Social Prescribing, Historic England and Natural England, the Fund has so far allocated £1.8 million to 37 projects, which are aiming to reach over 100,000 participants.
## **CASE STUDY: Our Libraries in Lockdown**
By 23 March, all public libraries in England had closed their doors, leaving many people with no immediate access to books, computers and other services offered by libraries.
To continue supporting the people who relied on them, libraries immediately started expanding the services they offered online, developing improved information services and live streaming activities such as Read and Rhyme sessions, Lego clubs and book clubs. Libraries Connected, a Sector Support Organisation, worked with qualified librarians to create Libraries From Home, a digital platform highlighting the best library resources and activities across the country.
Many library services used their 3D printers to produce personal protective equipment for frontline workers. Gateshead Libraries, for example, delivered over 2,000 pieces of equipment to their local hospital, as well as nearby care homes and adult social services organisations, while The Word in South Tyneside worked with mixed media artist Laura Jones to create visors for care workers.
Many other libraries took part in wider efforts to support vulnerable people in their communities through the hardships of lockdown. St Helens Cultural Hubs, for example, have supported their local community with projects including a letter writing service to maintain contact with isolated vulnerable people, and a home delivery service to allow housebound people to continue using the library’s
services, while Middlesbrough’s Central Library was host of the #HelpBoro hub. Set up to coordinate community support initiatives at the beginning of the pandemic, the hub was supported by library staff who answered calls, dropped off shopping and prescriptions, and packed food parcels. They also produced a twice-daily storytelling broadcast to continue bringing the benefits of reading to local people, including a bedtime story with Tammy, one of the Community Hub librarians, and her dog Monty.
## **Outcome 3 – A Creative and Cultural Country**
To achieve the first two Outcomes, we need a professional cultural sector that generates new ideas, works easily and effectively with others, and is adept at developing diverse talent from every community. It should aspire to be world-leading – in the way it makes art, in the imagination and expertise with which it makes exciting use of collections and develops libraries, and in the culture it creates and shares.
## **CASE STUDY: Synergy Dance**
Synergy Dance is a company that offers dance, yoga and fitness programmes that are suitable for people of all abilities. A key part of their work is making sure there are no barriers to participation, and that the activities they programme are inclusive and accessible for people with Special Needs and Disabilities.
Disabled and elderly people are some of the groups least likely to take part in physical activity. They have also been more severely impacted by the pandemic than the general population, so Synergy Dance decided to produce specialist online content to address their needs
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during the pandemic. As well as 230 online classes for general audiences, they have produced 174 classes for people with Special Needs and Disabilities. These include audio dance and yoga classes for blind and partially sighted people, and seated workouts, ParaStars Yoga® and ParaStars Dance™, which helped produce an increase in enrolments from disabled people during the second and third lockdowns.
As well as raising awareness of Disabled creatives, Tanya plans to develop and adapt her own skills as artist, collaborator and facilitator during the pandemic and beyond, and is looking to work collaboratively with disabled, neurodivergent, Ethnically Diverse and D/deaf artists in her next project.
The classes have helped participants to not only look after their physical health, but also to support their mental wellbeing, boost their confidence, and maintain connections with other people throughout the pandemic.
## **CASE STUDY: Tanya Raabe-Webber**
Shropshire-based visual artist Tanya Raabe-Webber was awarded National Lottery Project Grants funding for her project _Practice in a Digital World_ , which will work with more than 80 Disabled artists over an 18-month period. The project combines four interconnected strands, drawing particular attention to the pandemic’s impact on the limited mobility of disabled people.
Tanya Raabe-Webber has supported artists to develop their practice through online studio group sessions, one-toone workshops, and the postal service in the four project strands: _Collaborative Sketchbooks_ – digital and handmade collaborative sketchbooks; _Country Side Special_ – a series of self-portraits within a 10-mile radius of Tanya’s home studio; _ArtStudio01_ – home studio practices in an online studio space; and _Postcard Art Express_ – an international creative postcard exchange. The postal and digital elements of this project were developed as a direct response to Covid-19 restrictions, helping remove barriers to creativity that Disabled and Neurodiverse artists and creatives face.
ARTS COUNCIL PERFORMANCE 2020/21 33
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## 04.
Remuneration and staff report 1 April 2020 – 31 March 2021
PART-AUDITED INFORMATION
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
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ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
The remuneration report covers the whole organisation and the costs have been apportioned to both Grant-in-Aid and Lottery distribution accounts. The salary and pension disclosures for senior staff, the disclosures required by the Hutton Review and the Compensation scheme – Exit Packages have been audited.
Those members of National Council who are also chairs of Area Councils were entitled to remuneration of £6,659 each per annum during 2020/21 (2019/20: £6,527). During 2020/21 five members of National Council served as Area Council Chairs. The Chair’s salary for the period 2020/21 was £40,000 (2019/20: £40,000). Remuneration and expenses paid to National Council members are shown in the table below:
## THE REMUNERATION COMMITTEE
Arts Council England has a Remuneration Committee for specific matters relating to the remuneration and performance of its Chief Executive and Executive Directors. The committee operates within written terms of reference, and usually meets once during the year to agree annual pay increases and performance bonuses for the Executive Board. The Chief Executive makes reward recommendations to the committee in respect of those staff on Executive Board who report directly to him, but any salary increases and bonus payments to the CEO and Executive Directors must be approved by the Remuneration Committee. At the meeting in May 2021 where decisions were taken about 2020/21 Executive Board and CEO remuneration, the members of the committee were Sir Nicholas Serota, Paul Roberts (Chair), Catherine Mallyon, Kate Willard and Michael Eakin.
## COUNCIL MEMBERS’ REMUNERATION
Our supplemental charters issued in 2002 and 2006 provide us with the authority to remunerate our National Council members, who are also Area Council chairs, and our National Chair. Remuneration amounts are set by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and agreed by the Charity Commission.
## EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS’ REMUNERATION
For 2020-21, the Remuneration Committee awarded the Executive Directors a consolidated salary increase of 2.0 per cent – in line with the annual cost of living pay increase for all other Arts Council staff under the constraints of the Government’s public sector pay cap. The CEO did not take a consolidated salary increase. For 2021-22 the Government announced a public sector pay freeze for those earning above £24,000.
All performance payments to Executive Directors are normally earned on the basis of exceeding performance objectives and overall contribution to the effective leadership of Arts Council England. This is assessed formally through an annual appraisal process and agreed at the Remuneration Committee. The Executive Directors were each awarded a bonus payment of £2,000 in respect of their performance in 2020/21. However, they waived their bonuses and donated the full amount to charity.
The Chief Executive was awarded a bonus payment of £17,499. He chose to donate £10,000 of this to the First Generation scholarship fund at Manchester Metropolitan University. The First Generation scholarship fund is a scheme which supports young people from backgrounds where it is unusual to enter higher education. The remaining amount was donated to the Arts Council’s Staff Development Fund.
36 REMUNERATION REPORT
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NATIONAL COUNCIL MEMBERS POSITION SALARIES EXPENSES TOTAL
Sir Nicholas Serota
Chair of the Arts Council £40,000 £38 £40,038
CH
Prof Roni Brown Chair – South East Area Council £6,659 £0 £6,659
Ruth MacKenzie CBE Chair – London Area Council £6,659 £0 £6,659
Kate Willard OBE Chair – North Area Council £6,659 £247 £6,906
Helen Birchenough Chair – South West Area Council £6,659 £303 £6,962
Sukhy Johal MBE Chair – Midlands Area Council £6,659 £255 £6,914
Michael Eakin Member £0 £0 £0
Ciara Eastell OBE Member £0 £0 £0
David Joseph CBE Member £0 £0 £0
Catherine Mallyon Member £0 £0 £0
Andrew Miller MBE Member £0 £0 £0
George Mpanga Member £0 £0 £0
Elisabeth Murdoch Member £0 £0 £0
Paul Roberts OBE Member £0 £224 £224
Tessa Ross CBE Member £0 £0 £0
£73,295 £1,067 £74,362
**----- End of picture text -----**
REMUNERATION REPORT 37
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## EXECUTIVE BOARD REMUNERATION REPORT
**----- Start of picture text -----**
VARIABLE EMPLOYERS’
SALE OF PERFORMANCE PENSION TOTAL
SALARY ANNUAL PAYMENT CONTRIBUTIONS REMUNERATION
MEMBER £000s LEAVE £000s £000s £000s
Dr Darren Henley OBE 2020/21 150 – – 30 180
Chief Executive 2019/20 150 6 – 33 189
Laura Dyer MBE
2020/21 126 – – 25 151
Deputy CEO 2019/20 123 – 2 27 152
(Places & Engagement)
Simon Mellor 2020/21 126 5 – 25 156
Deputy CEO (Arts & Culture) 2019/20 123 0 2 27 152
Elizabeth Bushell 2020/21 112 2 – 22 136
Chief Finance Officer 2019/20 110 1 2 24 137
Mags Patten
2020/21 112 – – 22 134
Executive Director (Public 2019/20 110 – 2 24 136
Policy & Communications)
Francis Runacres MBE
2020/21 112 – – 22 134
Executive Director
2019/20 110 – 2 24 136
(Enterprise & Innovation)
Richard Russell 2020/21 112 2 – 22 136
Chief Operating Officer 2019/20 110 – 2 24 136
The Hutton Review asks organisations to disclose the median remuneration of Arts Council
England’s staff and the ratio between this and the remuneration of the highest paid Director. The
following calculation is based on the full-time equivalent staff number at the reporting period end
date on an annualised basis and compares this to the normal annual remuneration of the Arts
Council’s CEO, Darren Henley.
2020/21 2019/20
£ £
Highest paid Director’s remuneration 149,736 149,736
Median remuneration 32,615 31,975
Ratio 4.59 4.68
**----- End of picture text -----**
THE RANGE OF STAFF REMUNERATION DURING THE YEAR WAS £18,678 TO £149,736 (2019/20: £18,311 TO £149,736). THE MEDIAN PAY INCREASED BY 2.0 PER CENT COMPARED TO 2019/20, BECAUSE OF THE ANNUAL PAY AWARD. HOWEVER, THERE WAS NO INCREASE IN THE ‘HIGHEST PAID DIRECTOR’S REMUNERATION’ AS THE CEO DID NOT ACCEPT A PAY RISE. NO STAFF RECEIVE ANY BENEFITS IN KIND.
38 REMUNERATION REPORT
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## COMPENSATION SCHEME – EXIT PACKAGES
Details of redundancies and other exit packages agreed during 2020/21 are as follows:
**----- Start of picture text -----**
EXIT PACKAGE COST BAND 2020/21 2019/20
NUMBER OF NUMBER OF TOTAL EXIT NUMBER OF NUMBER OF TOTAL EXIT
COMPULSORY OTHER PACKAGES COMPULSORY OTHER PACKAGES
REDUNDANCIES DEPARTURES DURING REDUNDANCIES DEPARTURES DURING
AGREED 2020/21 AGREED 2019/20
£9,999 1 – 1 1 – 1
£10,000 – £24,999 2 – 2 – – –
£25,000 – £49,999 1 – 1 1 – 1
– – – – – –
£50,000 – £99,999
– – – – – –
£100,000 – £149,999
Total number of
exit packages by 4 – 4 2 – 2
type
Total resource cost
88 – 88 41 – 41
£000s
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Redundancy and other departure costs have been paid in accordance with the provisions of the Arts Council’s job security policy. The Arts Council pays exit costs when employment ends but provides for exit costs at the point when there is sufficiently detailed information to do so.
## TAX ARRANGEMENTS OF PUBLIC SECTOR APPOINTEES
In accordance with HM Treasury guidance on disclosure, the following disclosures set out the number of interim staff and the assurances given about tax status.
There were no new off-payroll engagements during 2020/21 for more than £245 per day and that had lasted for longer than six months.
There were no existing off-payroll engagements which reached six months in duration, between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021, for more than £245 per day.
It is Arts Council England’s policy to only employ people off payroll once the relevant assurances have been received. There were no off-payroll engagements of Board members and/or senior officials with significant financial responsibility between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021.
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Number of off-payroll engagements of Board members and/or senior officials with significant financial responsibility, during the financial year
significant financial responsibility, during the financial year – Number of individuals that have been deemed ‘Board members and/or senior 9 officials with significant financial responsibility’, during the financial year
## TRANSFER VALUES
This is the actuarially assessed capitalised value of the pension scheme benefits accrued by a member at a particular point in time. The benefits valued are the member’s accrued benefits and any contingent spouse’s pension payable from the scheme. A transfer value is a payment made by a pension scheme or arrangement to secure pension benefits in another pension scheme or arrangement when the member leaves a scheme and chooses to transfer the benefits accrued in their former scheme.
The calculation of the pension figures shown relate to the benefits that the individual has accrued as a consequence of their total membership of the pension scheme, not just their service in a senior capacity to which the disclosure applies.
The figures include the value of any pension benefit in another scheme or arrangement which the member has transferred to the Arts Council Retirement Plan. They also include any additional pension benefit accrued to the member as a result of buying additional pension benefits at their own cost. Transfer values are worked out in accordance with the Occupational Pension Schemes (Transfer Values) (Amendment) Regulations 2008 and do not take account of any actual or potential reduction resulting from Lifetime Allowance Tax which may be due when the pension benefits are taken.
40 REMUNERATION REPORT
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## INCREASE IN TRANSFER VALUE (NET OF INFLATION)
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INCREASE INCREASE IN
IN PENSION TRANSFER
ACCRUED (LUMP SUM) VALUE
PENSION IN YEAR (NET TRANSFER (NET OF TRANSFER
(LUMP SUM) AT OF INFLATION) VALUE AT INFLATION) VALUE AT
31 MARCH 2021 2020/21 31 MARCH 2021 2020/21 31 MARCH 2020
MEMBER £000s £000s £000s £000s £000s
Darren Henley OBE 21 2 368 23 345
Chief Executive (62) (6)
Laura Dyer MBE 51 2 1,016 36 997
Deputy CEO (153) (7)
(Places & Engagement)
Simon Mellor 22 2 484 32 446
Deputy CEO (Arts & Culture) (65) (6)
Elizabeth Bushell 31 2 542 24 525
Chief Finance Officer (93) (6)
Mags Patten 21 12 384 20 175
Executive Director (Public (62) (35)
Policy & Communications)
Francis Runacres 28 2 605 31 570
Executive Director (83) (5)
(Enterprise & Innovation)
Richard Russell 44 2 881 32 860
Chief Operating Officer (132) (6)
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This reflects the increase in transfer value that is funded by the employer net of the increase in accrued pension due to inflation. This
increase also excludes contributions paid by the employee (including the value of any benefits transferred from another pension scheme or arrangement or purchased via an Additional Voluntary Contribution contract) and uses common market valuation factors for the start and end of the period.
Dr Darren Henley OBE Chief Executive DATE: 30 NOVEMBER 2021
Sir Nicholas Serota CH Chair
DATE: 30 NOVEMBER 2021
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05.
Suslainability
reporl
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
The sustainability report covers the whole organisation and the costs have been apportioned to both Grant-in-Aid and Lottery distribution accounts.
## OVERALL PERFORMANCE
All Arts Council England offices remained unoccupied for the entire 2020/21 financial year and our staff worked from home. However, it was not possible to ‘mothball’ our estate during
this time due to the need to ensure offices could be brought back into use at short notice should guidance change. While the Birmingham office has been closed, we’ve taken the opportunity to replace the existing single-glazed windows with new double-glazed units.
Both travel and print showed significant reductions during the period and we will use the lessons learned during this time to inform policy and practice in these areas going forward.
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TRAVEL 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21
CO2 (tonnes) Rail 157 101 1
Air 54 25 –
Car 57 96 2
Total 267 222 3
Cost (£) Rail 822,069 743,173 5,618
Air 34,767 20,251 –
Petrol 72,535 122,992 2,871
Total 929,371 886,415 8,489
Miles Rail 2,199,887 1,526,460 8,349
Air 271,405 159,606 –
Car 181,337 307,481 7,177
Total 2,652,629 1,993,547 15,526
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44 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
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WASTE 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21
Non-financial indicators (tonnes) Total 326.67 320.32 13.08
Landfill 0.40 0.24 0.24
Reused/
326.27 320.08 12.84
recycled
Financial indicators (£) Total 11,336 12,900 7,743
Landfill 1,948 1,484 537
Reused/
9,389 11,417 7,206
recycled
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GREENHOUSE GAS 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21
EMISSIONS
CO2 (tonnes) Total Gross Emissions (CO2) 179 184 72
Gross Emissions Scope 1 (Direct) 66 48 32
Gross Emissions Scope 2 (Indirect) 113 136 40
Energy Electricity 397,788 479,107 139,564
Consumption
(kWh) Gas 359,287 263,503 174,368
Financial
Expenditure Energy 104,962 85,532 33,486
Indicators (£)
FINITE RESOURCE 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21
CONSUMPTION
Non-financial (m3) Supplied 4,705.77 9,535.87 1,465.38
Per Full Time Equivalent (FTE) 9.00 18.23 2.59
Financial Water Supply Costs 10,534 11,226 5,752
Indicators (£) (Office Water)
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## CO2 WHOLE ESTATE (TONNES)
## **SCOPE 1 (GAS)**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2018/19 67
2019/20 48
2020/21 32
SCOPE 2 (ELEC)
2018/19 112
2019/20 136
2020/21 40
SCOPE 3 (TRAVEL)
2018/19 267
2019/20 222
2020/21 3
TOTAL
2018/19 447
2019/20 406
2020/21 74
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
CO2 TONNES
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46 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
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## FINANCIAL EXPENDITURE (£)
## **SCOPE 1 (GAS)**
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2018/19 15,544
2019/20 14,009
2020/21 9,573
SCOPE 2 (ELEC)
2018/19 89,417
2019/20 71,523
2020/21 23,913
SCOPE 3 (TRAVEL)
2018/19 929,371
2019/20 886,415
2020/21 8,488
TOTAL
2017/18 1,034,342
2018/19 971,947
2019/20 41,974
0 200,000 400,000 600,000 800,000 1000,000 1200,000
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## WATER USAGE (m3) AND EXPENDITURE (£)
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WATER (m3)
2018/19 4,673
2019/20 9,536
2020/21 1,465
WATER COST (£)
2018/19 10,401
2019/20 11,226
2020/21 5,752
0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000 14,000
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## WASTE – NON FINANCIAL (TONNES)
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LANDFILL WASTE
2018/19 0.40
2019/20 0.24
2020/21 0.24
RECYCLED WASTE
2018/19 327.26
2019/20 320.08
2020/21 12.84
TOTAL
2018/19 327.66
2019/20 320.32
2020/21 13.08
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
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48 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
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## WASTE – FINANCIAL INDICATORS (£)
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LANDFILL WASTE
2018/19 1,947
2019/20 1,484
2020/21 537
RECYCLED WASTE
2018/19 9,381
2019/20 11,417
2020/21 7,206
TOTAL
2018/19 11,328
2019/20 12,900
2020/21 7,742
0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000 14,000 16,000
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Most of the data used in the preparation of this report is based on the information provided by our suppliers. However, at the time of writing (April 2021) data for some of the locations was not available. In line with HM Treasury guidance, estimates have been made based on the previous quarter’s actuals. All conversion factors used to produce CO2 outputs for travel have been taken from those produced by DEFRA.
We will continue to monitor and report progress on KPIs that have a direct impact on carbon emissions and our efficiency targets (e.g. office space utilisation).
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06. Trustees’ report and management commentary
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
## GOVERNANCE STATEMENT
Arts Council England was established by Royal Charter on 13 March 1994, taking over those responsibilities in England previously discharged by the Arts Council of Great Britain. The Arts Council of England, trading as Arts Council England, is a registered charity, charity registration number 1036733.
This is a single trustees’ report and management commentary which covers the requirements for both the Grant-in-Aid accounts and the Lottery distribution accounts during the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.
## ROLE, MISSION, OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT
The current objects of Arts Council England as stated in its Royal Charter are to:
- develop and improve the knowledge, understanding and practice of the arts
- increase accessibility of the arts to the public in England
- advance the education of the public and to further any other charitable purpose which relates to the establishment, maintenance and operation of museums and libraries (which are either public or from which the public may benefit) and to the protection of cultural property
- advise and co-operate, where it is appropriate to do so, with Departments of our Government, our Scottish administration, the Northern Ireland Executive and the Welsh ministers, local authorities, the arts councils and equivalent organisations in the museums and libraries sector for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland (or their successors) and other bodies on any matter related to the objects
## ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK
Arts Council England is an arm’s length non-departmental public body. It is also a registered charity. Accountability to Ministers is managed through the usual control mechanisms for arm’s length bodies.
Arts Council England is regulated in accordance with a management agreement agreed with the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. This is supplemented by an agreement for the Provision of Services in Relation to Cultural Objects outlining the statutory framework for delivering the cultural property functions on behalf of the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. As a registered charity and a chartered body, Arts Council England is also subject to a range of obligations and accountabilities set out in regulations and law. We prepare our accounts for Grant-in-Aid and Lottery distribution separately to comply with accounts directions issued by the Secretary of State and Charity Commission regulations.
Arts Council England is fully compliant with relevant principles around governance best practice for public service and charitable bodies as set out in the _Corporate governance in central government departments: Code of good practice 2017._
The Royal Charter is at the core of our mission as reflected in our strategic framework, _Let’s Create._
Information about our strategic framework, our outcomes and activities to achieve these, as well as our funding programmes can be found on pages 14 to 33.
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ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
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## Arts Council England’s Achieving Great Non-Executive Governance Structure Art & Culture
Arts Council England’s governance framework consists of a National Council, five Area Councils, an Executive Board, and a number of committees and panels that National Council has delegated responsibilities to Area Councils, panels and committees as shown below:
## National Council
(15 members including the Chair)
## **ROLE**
- govern and hold overall authority for Arts Council England
- retain overall responsibility for the work and conduct of the organisation
- make decisions on Arts Council England’s mission, objectives, priorities and strategies
- make decisions on grants above a certain threshold
- monitor delivery of 10-year strategic framework
- approve corporate plan
- approve Grant-in-Aid and Lottery accounts
- advocate for arts and culture and Arts Council England
## Five Area Councils
(Chairs sit on National Council, 14 other members, including local authority reps, artists, and arts and culture practitioners)
## Museums Accreditation Committee
(16-20 members)
## **ROLE**
## **ROLE**
- advise on policy and strategy
- make decisions and recommendations on National Portfolio applications
- make decisions on Accreditation status and applications from museums and galleries in the UK
- provide quality assurance
- advocate for the scheme
## Performance and Audit Committee
(Chair sits on National Council, four National Council members and four independent members)
## **ROLE**
- assess and advise on the organisation’s financial risk, performance management, governance and value for money
## Designation Scheme Panel
(10 members)
## **ROLE**
- make decisions on Designation applications from museums, libraries and archives
- provide quality assurance
- advocate for the scheme
- performs the responsibilities of an Audit and Risk Assurance Committee
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## Remuneration Committee
(Chair sits on National Council, four other National Council members)
## **ROLE**
- make decisions on senior executive salaries, bonuses and other terms and conditions
## Acceptance in Lieu Panel
(6-24 members)
## **ROLE**
— advise on items offered to the nation in lieu of Inheritance Tax or through the Cultural Gifts Scheme, on Conditional Exemption and on Immunity from Seizure
## Arts Council Collection Acquisition Committee
(8 members)
## **ROLE**
- advise on new additions to the Arts Council Collection with reference to the Acquisitions and Disposal and Collections Development policy
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## Non-Executive Governance
## NATIONAL COUNCIL
## MEMBERSHIP OF NATIONAL COUNCIL
Members of National Council are appointed by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport who seeks to ensure that National Council has an appropriate range of knowledge, skills and experience.
The composition of National Council in 2020-21 was as follows:
## Sir Nicholas Serota CH
(CHAIR)
## Professor Roni Brown
(SOUTH EAST AREA COUNCIL CHAIR)
Kate Willard OBE
(NORTH AREA COUNCIL CHAIR)
Helen Birchenough (SOUTH WEST AREA COUNCIL CHAIR)
Sukhy Johal MBE (MIDLANDS AREA COUNCIL CHAIR)
Ruth Mackenzie CBE
## HIGHLIGHTS OF NATIONAL COUNCIL MEETINGS IN 2020/21
During 2020/21, National Council and its committees considered key strategic issues and routine business planning; the topics considered included:
- the National Portfolio Emergency Fund
- governance and business arrangements during the Covid-19 pandemic
- the Arts Council Collection storage
- the Culture Recovery Fund
- strategic risk updates
- the Social Prescribing Fund
- Area Council Appointments
- the Capital Emergency Fund (Kickstart)
- the Delivery Plan for _Let’s Create_
- Acceptance in Lieu Panel
- Programme Budget
- Culture Investment Fund
- Extension of the National Portfolio Funding Period
- Quarterly Investment Risk Report
- Artsmark Trademarks
(LONDON AREA COUNCIL CHAIR)
Michael Eakin Ciara Eastell OBE David Joseph CBE Catherine Mallyon Andrew Miller MBE George Mpanga Elisabeth Murdoch Paul Roberts OBE Tessa Ross CBE
Further details about National Council’s work during the year are available in the minutes from its meetings published on the Arts Council’s website.
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## SUMMARY OF NATIONAL COUNCIL’S REVIEW OF ITS EFFECTIVENESS
National Council reviewed its effectiveness in 2020-21. As part of this it considered:
- The performance of the chair over the year
- How well it had adapted the way it worked in response to the pandemic
- How well it had steered the Arts Council’s response to the pandemic
- Its terms of reference and whether any changes were needed.
National Council commended the way that it, its area councils and indeed the organisation had adapted to remote working and maintained its effectiveness during the pandemic. It was noted that National Council had moved swiftly to approve the Arts Council’s emergency response package as soon as the impact on the sector had become apparent – by the end of March 2020.
During the year National Council continued to monitor the impact of the pandemic on the Arts and Culture sector meeting as often as needed. During these meetings council members provided vital intelligence on the impact of Covid-19 on the sector and the difference the package of measures was making on the ground.
Members had reflected on the establishment of its race and disability advisory groups, which had been set up to provide it with advice on how to respond to the impact of the pandemic on the D/deaf, neurodivergent, disabled, Black, Asian and Ethnically Diverse communities, and to ensure a focus on equality in the Arts Council’s Delivery Plan for 21-24. They thanked the members of these advisory groups for their advice and noted the need to include feedback from the advisory groups as a standing item on National Council agendas.
For 2021-22 members were looking forward to returning to face-to-face meetings when it is safe to do so. They felt that it was important that there was a renewed focus on the implementation of the Arts Council’s ten-year strategy – _Let’s Create_ , noting that the sector’s recovery and reset following the pandemic would be key to delivering the strategy. As part of this renewed focus on the strategy, members emphasised the importance of National Council having an overview of the opportunities and challenges for various parts of the sector, such as museums, libraries, artforms, freelancers, and in different parts of the country.
National Council considered its terms of reference and noted that no changes were needed.
National Council welcomed the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund (CRF), which had provided valuable funds to the sector and commended the way in which the Arts Council had worked in partnership with the Department for Culture Media and Sport and the Culture Recovery Board to distribute CRF grants and loans.
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PERFORMANCE AND
NATIONAL COUNCIL ATTENDANCES NATIONAL COUNCIL AUDIT COMMITTEE* REMUNERATION COMMITTEE
Sir Nicholas Serota CH 14/14 – –
Helen Birchenough 14/14 – –
Professor Roni Brown 10/14 – –
Michael Eakin 13/14 4/4 1/1
Ciara Eastell OBE 13/14 – –
– –
Sukhy Johal MBE 12/14
– –
David Joseph CBE 10/14
Ruth Mackenzie CBE 10/14 – –
Catherine Mallyon 11/14 2/4 1/1
Andrew Miller MBE 14/14 – –
– –
George Mpanga 13/14
Elisabeth Murdoch 13/14 – –
Paul Roberts OBE 14/14 4/4 1/1
Tessa Ross CBE 14/14 – –
Kate Willard 13/14 4/4 0/1
OTHER MEMBERS OF PERFORMANCE AND AUDIT COMMITTEE
– –
Claire Ashby 3/4
– –
Clive Parritt 3/4
– –
Tracy Staines 4/4
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> * Performance and Audit Committee attendance is inclusive of four meetings from 10th June 2020 to 13th April 2021, the latter being included as part of the 2020/21 schedule.
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## COMMITTEES AND SUB-COMMITTEES
## **Area Councils**
There are five Area Councils covering the breadth of England and reflecting Arts Council England’s operational structure, appointed to assist National Council in developing, championing and investing in the arts and culture.
They support and promote the organisation’s mission and objectives by providing advice on draft policies, making funding decisions and acting as advocates for the arts and culture, creating a live connection at an area level.
Each Area Council consists of 15 members including the Chair who is also a member of National Council. Area Councils meet five times a year.
## **Performance and Audit Committee**
National Council has appointed a Performance and Audit Committee (PAC) to review and report on the systems of risk and internal control, governance and performance management.
The Performance and Audit Committee is chaired by Paul Roberts, a member of National Council. All National Council members receive papers and minutes of Performance and Audit Committee meetings. The Chair of the Performance and Audit Committee provides a report to National Council following each meeting, and as he deems necessary. The Performance and Audit Committee also provides a full report to National Council on its performance once a year.
The Performance and Audit Committee responded flexibly in supporting the Arts Council through the 2020/21 crisis period of Covid-19, including keeping committee agendas under close review for rapid change and updating committee members with key organisational developments between meetings.
Key areas scrutinised by the Performance and Audit Committee during 2020/21 included findings from internal audit reviews, the external audit of the annual report and accounts,
key budgets, and the Arts Council’s risk management processes. The Performance and Audit Committee also considered the strength of our information security, fraud detection, and assurance on the Culture Recovery Fund (CRF).
There is currently a vacancy on the Committee but plans for recruitment were paused after the transition to the crisis working period of Covid-19. In January 2021 recruitment was reassessed by the Chair of the Committee. The decision was taken to advertise the vacancy with the aim of recruiting to ensure a range of skills on the Committee that would match the developing post-Covid-19 governance requirements of the major areas of ACE financial commitment.
At their Annual Review of Effectiveness in April 2021, Performance and Audit Committee decided their goals for the upcoming 2021/22 year would include: continuing to seek the appropriate balance between the two foci of Performance and Audit; considering major areas of Arts Council England financial commitment and the governance implications therein; effectively supporting and challenging the development of _Let’s Create_ and its first Delivery Plan; and seeking optimal ways of managing heavy business agendas in the developing context of Covid-19.
## **Remuneration Committee**
National Council has appointed a Remuneration Committee to deal with the matters set out in the remuneration report. The Remuneration Committee normally meets annually. Further details on this committee can be found in the Remuneration Report.
## **Executive management**
National Council has delegated responsibilities for the implementation of its strategy and operational matters to the Chief Executive and Executive Board. The Chief Executive has been authorised by National Council to undertake the day-to-day administration and management of the business and staff of the organisation and is responsible to National Council for those matters.
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As Arts Council England’s Accounting Officer, the Chief Executive is responsible for its overall efficiency and effectiveness and has responsibility for reviewing the effectiveness of the system of internal control. This review is informed by the internal auditors, the Deputy Chief Executives, and Executive Directors within Arts Council England, and comments from the external auditors in their management letter and other reports. The Accounting Officer may, on occasion, be required to give evidence to Parliament’s House of Commons Public Accounts Committee.
Executive Board comprises of the Chief Executive, two Deputy Chief Executives, and four other Executive Directors. The Chief Executive is appointed by National Council with the approval of the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
Executive Board meets formally throughout the year to consider key policy, strategic and operational matters, and provide advice to National Council. It also oversees the financial performance and risk management of Arts Council England as a whole. Appropriate management structures have been created
throughout the organisation to assist Executive Board members to oversee their respective departments and areas of responsibility.
During the crisis of Covid-19, Executive Board increased the frequency of its formal meetings in order to meet the needs of the arts and culture sector through the emergency period. Executive Board oversaw all areas of the Arts Council’s response work in 2020/21, including the Emergency Response Funds and both rounds of the Culture Recovery Fund, the latter managed in regular liaison with the Culture Recovery Board and DCMS.
Executive Board is supported by a Management Committee, a National Investment Panel, whose membership includes the two Deputy Chief Executives and the five Area Directors, and other panels and decisionmaking groups. The National Investment Panel also supported the decision-making process on both rounds of the Culture Recovery Fund in 2020/21.
There are written terms of reference and procedures for National Council and its subcommittees and Executive Board.
## MEMBERSHIP OF EXECUTIVE BOARD IN 2020/21
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NAME JOB TITLE
1 Dr Darren Henley OBE Chief Executive
2 Laura Dyer MBE Deputy Chief Executive, Places & Engagement
3 Simon Mellor Deputy Chief Executive, Arts and Culture
4 Elizabeth Bushell Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer
5 Mags Patten Executive Director, Communication
& Public Policy
6 Richard Russell Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer
7 Francis Runacres Executive Director, Enterprise and Innovation
**----- End of picture text -----**
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## RISK MANAGEMENT AND INTERNAL CONTROL
## **Risk management**
National Council ensures there are effective arrangements for internal control including risk management at Arts Council England. The system of internal control is based on an ongoing process designed to identify and prioritise risks to the achievement of Arts Council England’s policies, aims and objectives, to evaluate the likelihood of those risks being realised and the impact should they be realised, and to manage them efficiently, effectively and yet economically.
The Arts Council takes the view that the absolute mitigation of all risk is neither possible nor desirable. We believe that it is important that we support and encourage innovation and can take managed risks in support of our mission.
We identify and manage risk at three levels:
- Strategic: the principal risks, opportunities and uncertainties affecting the achievement of our mission and strategic outcomes
- Operational: risks to the delivery of our area or departmental plans
- Programmes/Projects/Thematic Risk: Risks to the delivery of individual programmes, projects and to particular areas of our work
Our system of risk management and internal control is designed to manage risk to an acceptable level rather than eliminate all risk of failure to achieve requirements and objectives.
The Arts Council’s appetite for risk varies according to the nature of the activity. The level of risk that we are willing to take is one of the key factors we consider when making decisions on how best to invest, develop and champion the arts, museums and libraries.
We seek to minimise exposure to financial, legal, compliance and reputational risk.
The Arts Council has a high appetite for artistic and creative risk. We value creativity, originality
and ambition. Neither can be achieved without experimentation and innovation. We want to offer artists and arts and culture organisations the commitment and freedom that allows them to experiment and take risks. In our investment decisions we carefully weigh the opportunities and potential benefits of projects alongside possible risks.
Acceptance of risk is always subject to ensuring that potential benefits and risks are fully understood before decisions are made, and that sensible measures to mitigate risk are established.
## **System for managing risk**
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has designated the Chief Executive of Arts Council England as Accounting Officer, with clear responsibility and accountability for maintaining a sound system of internal control within the organisation. Internal audit provides the Accounting Officer with an objective evaluation of, and opinion on, the overall adequacy and effectiveness of the organisation’s framework of governance, risk management and control. Risk management forms part of the organisation’s ongoing activity and is addressed as a matter of standard practice in its corporate programme and project plans. It continues to be a key element of how Arts Council England monitors its corporate policies and initiatives and is integrated into business planning across the organisation.
Arts Council England has in place a wide range of policies dealing with control issues for corporate governance, financial management (including counter fraud), project management, health and safety, training and development, information technology, and risk management, all of which are reviewed and updated periodically as part of the organisation’s business planning process.
Arts Council England operates a range of controls over the funding programmes it operates to ensure the grant funding provided is used for the purposes intended. These controls are designed to be commensurate with the level of risk associated with each
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funding programme and the organisation’s appetite for risk. The controls include ensuring signed funding agreements are in place, monitoring payment conditions before payments are released, reviewing activity returns and regularly monitoring risks to funded organisations.
The risk management process is facilitated and monitored by the Governance and Planning Department. The management of key risks is subject to independent review and assurance through the internal audit process, which reports to management as well as the Performance and Audit Committee. National Council reviews the strategic risk register annually.
During 2020/21, Arts Council England continued to manage risk at the strategic, operational, and individual project and programme levels. Strategic risks are identified through periodic
workshops with senior staff, through escalation from operational risk registers, or as they arise. They are then agreed by Executive Board and assigned an Executive Board lead and risk owner or ‘manager’ who manages mitigating actions and controls thereafter.
Our risk position changed quickly in 2020/21, and we therefore reported monthly to Executive Board and quarterly to the Performance and Audit Committee on progress in implementing relevant controls and mitigating actions on strategic risks. Operational risks are also monitored on a regular basis and aligned to our Covid-19 response programme, with progress on implementing relevant controls and mitigating actions reported to the Executive Board. Programme and project level risks are monitored by the relevant programme lead or project board on a timescale appropriate to the programme or project.
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The major residual risks which National Council considers most significant are:
Impact of Covid-19 on the Sector
The most significant risk that we managed in 2020/21, and that we anticipate remaining significant for the Arts Council and the sector that we support, is the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the sector.
Covid-19 has resulted in the closure of arts and culture venues to the public for the better part of the last year. The risk remains that many artists and creative practitioners will not be able to sustain their careers, and vital cultural organisations will not be able to remain solvent through and after this crisis.
In response, we have reallocated our funds to roll out a support package aimed at individuals, non-National Portfolio Organisations, and National Portfolio Organisations. We also delivered two rounds of the Culture Recovery Fund on behalf of DCMS. We have made delivery of the response packages our number one priority, and where necessary have temporarily redeployed staff to ensure that these programmes can be delivered speedily. We are collecting data on the impact on the sector and are in constant contact with Government, about the impact of the crisis, and the Government’s support package on our sector.
Beyond delivery of the response fund, we also working with Government, the sector, local government and other key stakeholders on plans for recovery and re-emergence.
We remain committed to our new Strategy, _Let’s Create_ , and we are reconsidering our plans for delivering the strategy in the wake of Covid-19.
Covid-19 is also severely impacting on local government, the largest investor in the arts and culture sector in England. This has exacerbated our concerns over the possibility of further reductions in local authority investment. We will continue to work with the Local Authorities, elected Mayors, the Local Government Association, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Local Enterprise Partnerships and others to maintain, and make the case for the vital role that libraries, museums and arts organisations play in our local communities.
Arts Council England has maintained full business continuity despite the lockdown by switching to remote working, and we will be reviewing how we work to ensure that we remain effective over this crisis and can deliver our new strategy.
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## We are not seen as responding to the equality issues highlighted by Covid-19
In the wake of the inequitable impact of Covid-19, we managed the risk that we would not respond in an effective and significant way to a lack of parity in the arts and culture sector and embed equality into our strategic decision making, Delivery Plan, and recovery packages.
In response, we developed a set of 12-month Equality Objectives to inform all our immediate work, including our Covid-19 response. We are transitioning from the Creative Case to our new Inclusivity and Relevance Investment Principle which enables us to increase our focus on accountability beyond programming to also include Workforce, Leadership and Governance as well as our wider work with audiences and local communities. A new set of Equality Objectives have been developed which will run in parallel with our Delivery Plan for 2021-24.
Other key risks for the Arts Council include:
Our future income
Our two main sources of income are Grant-in-Aid and funding from the National Lottery. Our current Grant-in-Aid settlement is for a one-year duration. A Spending Review was announced on 27 October 2021, and we look forward to hearing more detail about our settlement from DCMS soon. This settlement will determine the extent to which we are able to continue supporting the sector’s re-emergence from Covid-19 and deliver the new strategy. We continue to monitor the impact of Covid-19 on our National Lottery income, together with the potential impact of transition to a fourth National Lottery licence in 2023.
Arts Council and the arts and culture sector is not sufficiently resourced to manage the impact of Britain’s exit from the EU
Britain left the EU bloc on 31 December 2020, meaning that the movement of goods, services, and movement post-transition may be restricted with changes in customs arrangements, visas, export licensing, and/or potential introduction of tariffs. Organisations in the arts and culture sector may be unsure how to, or be unable to, continue trading within the EU, which could make the Arts Council’s ambitions for the sector, as outlined in _Let’s Create_ , more difficult to achieve. We continue to work closely with DCMS to help the sector navigate these challenges. We are also partnering with the other UK arts councils to provide a single point of information for the sector and determine where we can increase our support.
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Adapting the way we work as an organisation to reflect the context and delivery of our new 10-year Strategy
Our new 10-year Strategy, _Let’s Create_ , is ambitious, and to deliver it effectively we will need to change as an organisation. The strategy contains commitments that set out how we will work over the next decade: to keep our delivery on track, to ensure that we are held to account, and to serve as an invitation to others to join us as partners. Our Delivery Plan will set out how we will deliver on these commitments over the first three years of the Strategy. We have established a Workstream led by the Chief Financial Officer to determine the implementation of the necessary changes.
## **Data security and personal data**
Arts Council England continues to maintain its performance in responding effectively to information requests, identifying opportunities to proactively disclose information, and embedding good information handling behaviours across the organisation.
There were no major security incidents involving data at the Arts Council during 2020/21. There were 29 minor incidents where there was no adverse impact on, or damage to, individuals in relation to personal data. No personal data breaches were reported to the ICO. The Arts Council dealt with all incidents immediately; each was investigated to see if any changes needed to be made to the Arts Council’s systems and processes.
Our Senior Information Risk Owner chairs a quarterly meeting of the Information Governance Subcommittee which oversees the framework and processes in place to monitor information assets and associated risks along with developing a culture of awareness among all staff. The subcommittee is supported in its work by the Data Protection Officer who assists the organisation to monitor internal GDPR compliance and inform and advise on our data protection obligations.
## **Whistleblowing policy**
Arts Council England’s whistleblowing policy is derived from the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA) which exists to protect any members of staff who make disclosures in good faith about wrongdoing or activity which
is against the public interest. The policy is made available to all permanent and temporary staff and is published on our intranet. No whistleblowing cases were reported and investigated during 2020/21.
## **Conflicts of Interest**
As a public body we have a code of ethics that makes sure all staff adhere to the Seven Principles of Public Life, the Bribery Act 2010 and the Government rules on code of conduct in non-departmental public bodies. In particular, staff are required:
- to act, and be seen to act, with independence and impartiality while working for the Arts Council
- to take steps to avoid conflicts of interest, by registering and declaring any conflicts between personal interests and the work of the Arts Council as they arise
A register of interests for all National Council and Executive Board members is available at the following link:
## **https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/nationalcouncil/national-council-register-interests**
In March 2021 the Government also issued the 12 Principles of Governance for all NonExecutive Directors of Public Bodies
## **https://www.gov.uk/government/ publications/public-bodies-non-executivedirector-principles/12-principles-ofgovernance-for-all-public-body-neds**
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## **Internal audit**
The annual programme of internal audit work is carried out by an external firm of accountants to standards defined in the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards. The work of internal audit is informed by the risk register, an assessment of the assurance requirements – particularly on the most significant risks facing Arts Council England – and the key day-to-day processes and systems in place. The annual internal audit plan is based on this analysis. It is endorsed by Management Committee and approved by the Performance and Audit Committee. The internal auditors receive all Performance and Audit Committee papers and attend the Performance and Audit Committee meetings.
They provide periodic progress reports including the findings of follow-up reviews, building up to an annual report on internal audit activity. This annual report includes the internal auditors’ opinion on the overall adequacy and effectiveness of the systems that internal audit have reviewed. The Performance and Audit Committee reviews and discusses the progress report and the annual assurance report. Internal audit services are being provided by RSM.
the external auditors in their management letter and other reports. A review of the effectiveness of our system of internal control has taken place. National Council and the Performance and Audit Committee have been advised about the findings in the review and a plan to address weaknesses and ensure continuous improvement of the system is in place.
## **Assessment of the effectiveness of internal control during 2019/20**
The effectiveness of the Arts Council’s internal controls is monitored through a set of operational metrics reviewed by Executive Board and the Performance and Audit Committee. This is supported by a programme of internal audit reviews.
For 2020/21, internal audit completed reviews of the following areas:
1. Remote Working & Operational Resilience
- 2) Culture Recovery Funding
- 3) Finance System Implementation
- 4) Project Management Critical Friend Review
- 5) ERF and CRF Post Event Assurance Landscape
- 6) Risk Appetite Advisory Review
- 7) ERF and CRF – Government Grant Standards
In their 2020/21 annual report, RSM stated that, in their opinion:
‘The organisation has an adequate and effective framework for risk management, governance and internal control. However, our work has identified further enhancements to the framework of risk management, governance and internal controls to ensure that it remains adequate and effective.’
## **Review of effectiveness of internal control**
The Accounting Officer and the Chair of Council, as the representatives of the Trustees, have responsibility for reviewing the effectiveness of the system of internal control. This review of the effectiveness of the system of internal control is informed by the work of the internal auditors with the executive managers within Arts Council England who have responsibility for the development and maintenance of the internal control framework, and comments made by
- 8) ERF and CRF – Data Analytics
Where weaknesses have been identified during the course of internal audit’s work, the findings and the action that management have taken to address key weaknesses have been reported to the Performance and Audit Committee. Throughout 2020/21 we monitored our strategic, operational and project risks in accordance with our risk management policy. We also continued to revise and refine our risk management policies and procedures.
Dr Darren Henley OBE Chief Executive 30 NOVEMBER 2021
Sir Nicholas Serota CH Chair
30 NOVEMBER 2021
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## **Staff Report**
It has been an extraordinary year for Arts Council staff and ways of working. In March 2020, when the emergency lockdown began, the whole organisation switched to working from home on an almost overnight basis and continued to do so for the remainder of the year. Meetings have been conducted virtually and documents shared through newer online collaborative spaces, as well as the more ‘traditional’ email. The nature of our work, our systems and equipment made the transfer to radical new working conditions a seamless success. Good internal communications have been essential – with an increase in the importance, volume and frequency of our staff intranet messages, together with the introduction of weekly all staff catch up meetings with members of Executive Board. When the wider restrictions ease, we hope to be able to return to offices and visiting arts and culture events and colleagues, but the ambition is to retain a number of the new ways of working which have rapidly emerged
during 2020/21, and conduct our business and collaboration in a more flexible and agile way.
During a most challenging year for public health, the Arts Council’s sickness absence has remained low at 1.4 per cent of total working days (down from 2.2 per cent in 2019/20). We introduced the important role of Mental Health First Aiders, launched a bespoke online wellbeing course for colleagues and extensively promoted our Employee Assistance Programme. We have conducted surveys of staff morale and wellbeing across the year. In our November survey, after eight months of home working, 78 per cent of respondents reported being either happy with this or saw it as working well in the circumstances. 70 per cent said they liked the work-life balance of working from home, 70 per cent said they felt connected to their team, 92 per cent felt technology had successfully enabled them to do their job remotely and 73 per cent felt supported with their wellbeing.
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With the delivery of Culture Recovery Funds, workloads have sometimes been high, but we have brought in new roles to support delivery of these – with the organisational headcount rising from 586 (540 full-time equivalent) to 622 (578 full-time equivalent). This figure includes the recruitment to around 27 new roles to deliver the Cultural Investment Fund over the next few years. Our voluntary leaver rate was only 3.5 per cent (compared with 8.5 per cent in 2019/20) and there were no major redundancy programmes in the year. Some roles were lost or redeployed as part of a reorganisation of our Museums and Cultural Property function.
Arts Council colleagues were awarded a 2 per cent consolidated salary increase in 2020/21, which is within the requirements set by the Civil Service Pay Guidance, which we adhere to.
We have continued to focus on diversity in recruitment through the year, and our proportion of Black, Asian and Ethnically diverse staff in the year rose from 12.1 per cent in 2019/20 to 14.3 per cent in 2020/21.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
% OF STAFF WHO IDENTIFY AS BLACK, ASIAN AND ETHNICALLY DIVERSE
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
0
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
**----- End of picture text -----**
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Our numbers of disabled, D/deaf and neuro-diverse staff rose from 7.0 per cent in 2019/20 to 7.7 per cent in 2020/21.
% OF STAFF WHO IDENTIFY AS DISABLED, D/deaf OR NEURODIVERGENT
**----- Start of picture text -----**
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
**----- End of picture text -----**
A total of 14.5 per cent of our staff body is LGB. These figures are the highest proportions since we began our current record-keeping methods 13 years ago.
% OF STAFF WHO IDENTIFY AS LESBIAN, GAY OR BISEXUAL
**----- Start of picture text -----**
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
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For the year ending 2019/20, our median gender pay gap was zero and the mean was 6.0 per cent.
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## **Trade union facility time**
The Trade Union (Facility Time Publication Requirements) Regulations 2017 took effect on 1 April 2017 and mean that public sector employers are now required to publish certain information on trade union officials and facility time in their annual report.
Facility time covers duties carried out for the trade union or as a union learning representative, for example, accompanying an employee to a disciplinary or grievance hearing. It will also cover training received and duties carried out under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
The information for Arts Council England is as follows:
## **Relevant union officials**
What was the total number of Arts Council England employees who were relevant union officials during the relevant period?
**----- Start of picture text -----**
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES
WHO WERE RELEVANT UNION
OFFICIALS DURING THE FULL TIME EQUIVALENT
RELEVANT PERIOD EMPLOYEE NUMBER
18 17.1
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **Percentage of time spent on facility time**
How many of Arts Council England employees who were relevant union officials employed during the relevant period spent a) 0%, b) 1%50%, c) 51%-99% or d) 100% of their working hours on facility time?
**----- Start of picture text -----**
PERCENTAGE OF TIME NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES
0% 0
1-50% 18
51%–99% 0
100% 0
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **Percentage of pay bill spent on facility time**
The figures below show the percentage of Arts Council England’s total pay bill spent on paying employees who were relevant union officials for facility time during the relevant period.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Total cost of facility
£19,178
time
Total pay bill £21,183,273
Percentage of the total
pay bill spent on facility
time, calculated as:
0.09%
(total cost of facility
time ÷ total pay bill) x
100
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **Paid trade union activities**
As a percentage of total paid facility time hours, how many hours were spent by employees who were relevant union officials during the relevant period on paid trade union activities?
Time spent on paid 100% trade union activities as a percentage of total paid facility time hours calculated as: (total hours spent on paid trade union activities by relevant union officials during the relevant period ÷ total paid facility time hours) x 100
## GRANTS TO LOCALLY GOVERNED ORGANISATIONS
All grants awarded by Arts Council England are subject to funding agreements with clearly laid out terms and conditions. We satisfy ourselves that relevant conditions are met before payment is made.
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## PUBLIC SECTOR INFORMATION
On 1 April 2009 Arts Council England became a provider of official statistics under the extended scope of the Statistics and Registration Act 2008. This means that when Arts Council England produces, manages and disseminates official statistics we strive to abide by the Code of Practice for Official Statistics published by the UK Statistics Authority in January 2009.
The code sets out a number of important principles and practices to ensure that the official statistics meet the needs of Government and society and are both trustworthy and trusted.
## BETTER PAYMENT PRACTICE CODE
We attempt to abide by the Better Payment Practice Code, and in particular pay bills in accordance with our contracts. Invoices are normally settled within our suppliers’ standard terms, usually 30 days, and we aspire to settle valid invoices within 10 days. During 2020/21,100 per cent of invoices were paid within 30 days (2019/20: 100 per cent) and we paid 97.6 per cent of invoices within five days (2019/20: 96.7 per cent).
## CORPORATE INFORMATION
**Principal address as at 31 March 2021** 21 Bloomsbury Street London WC1B 3HC
## **Banker**
Government Banking Service National Westminster Bank plc Premier Place, Devonshire Square, London EC2M 4BA
Co-operative Bank 78-80 Corn Hill London EC3V 3NJ
## **Auditor**
Comptroller and Auditor General National Audit Office 157-197 Buckingham Palace Road Victoria London SW1W 9SP
## **Administrators, actuaries and investment advisers to the Arts Council**
## **Retirement Plan**
Hyman Robertson LLP 20 Waterloo Street Glasgow G2 6DB
## **Administrators, actuaries and investment advisers to the West Yorkshire**
## **Pension Fund**
Aon Hewitt 25 Marsh Street Bristol BS1 4AQ
## **Solicitors**
A number of specialised solicitors have been appointed to our external solicitor pool.
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07.
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## DCMS KPIS
The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) sets priorities for the Arts Council which sit alongside our key performance indicators (KPIs). These performance indicators may be reviewed over the duration of the Arts Council’s management agreement with DCMS.
The data for the KPIs 1-5 reflect 2019/20 due to the schedule in which we collect data from our National Portfolio Organisations.
## **KPI 1: Sustained attendance and visitor numbers in National Portfolio Organisations and Major Partner Museums (thousands)[1]**
|2017/18|2018/19|2019/20|
|---|---|---|
|39,371|43,998|45,382|
## **KPI 1A** TOTAL AUDIENCE/VISITOR NUMBERS (000S)
**----- Start of picture text -----**
46,000
45,382
45,000
43,998
44,000
43,000
42,000
41,000
40,000
39,371
39,000
38,000
37,000
36,000
2017/18 2018/19 2019/20
**----- End of picture text -----**
> 1 Data shows total known attendances for England, UK, and the rest of the world (excluding children and young people). We have only included attendances reported by the 565 organisations who provided valid data every year for the past three consecutive years (this is referred to as a constant sample). Estimated attendances, for example from non-ticketed events, have been excluded. For 2019/20 the funding condition attached to annual survey submission was waived in recognition of the challenges faced by organisations at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic; there were 766 out of 828 submissions.
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Breakdown by five Arts Council areas: Attendance and visitor numbers in National Portfolio Organisations and Major Partner Museums by area (thousands):
**----- Start of picture text -----**
AREA 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20
London 15,906 19,792 20,638
Midlands 6,823 6,722 5,517
North 8,392 9,870 10,801
South East 4,140 4,571 5,464
South West 4,109 3,042 2,961
**----- End of picture text -----**
**KPI 1B** TOTAL AUDIENCE/VISITOR NUMBERS BY ARTS COUNCIL AREAS (000S)
**----- Start of picture text -----**
15,906
LONDON 19,792
20,638
6,823
MIDLANDS 6,722
5,517
8,392
NORTH 9,870
10,801
4,140
SOUTH EAST 4,571
5,464
4,109
SOUTH WEST 3,042
2,961
0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000
**----- End of picture text -----**
**2017/18 2018/19 2019/20**
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## **KPI 2: Proportion of National Portfolio Organisation and Major Partner Museum Board members who identify with the following characteristics[2] :**
Proportion of National Portfolio Organisation and Major Partner Museum Board members who identify with diversity characteristics:
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2017/18 2018/19 2019/20
Black, Asian and Ethnically Diverse 14% 15% 18%
Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual 6% 7% 8%
Female 46% 47% 49%
Disabled 6% 7% 9%
**----- End of picture text -----**
**KPI 2:** PROPORTION OF NATIONAL PORTFOLIO ORGANISATION AND MAJOR PARTNER MUSEUM BOARD MEMBERS WHO IDENTIFY WITH DIVERSITY CHARACTERISTICS:
**----- Start of picture text -----**
14%
BLACK, ASIAN AND
15%
ETHNICALLY DIVERSE
18%
6%
LESBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL 7%
8%
46%
FEMALE 47%
49%
6%
DISABLED 7%
9%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
2017/18 2018/19 2019/20
**----- End of picture text -----**
> 2 The KPI data is based on all annual survey data submitted, in line with the approach taken for _Equality, Diversity and the Creative Case: A Data Report, 2019-20._
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## **KPI 3: The proportion of National Portfolio Organisations producing at least one screening or broadcast in the reporting year**
Proportion of National Portfolio Organisations producing at least one screening or broadcast in the reporting year[3] :
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2017/18 2018/19 2019/20
Total 306 521 525
% 46% 65% 69%
**----- End of picture text -----**
**KPI 3:** PROPORTION OF NATIONAL PORTFOLIO ORGANISATIONS PRODUCING AT LEAST ONE SCREENING OR BROADCAST IN THE REPORTING YEAR[3] :
**----- Start of picture text -----**
80%
69%
70% 65%
60%
50% 46%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
2017/18 2018/19 2019/20
**----- End of picture text -----**
> 3 Includes film screenings, virtual reality experiences, television and radio broadcasts, and creative content products created to be consumed online (podcasts, vlogs, apps, etc) across the whole portfolio.
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## **KPI 4: An increase in contributed and earned income in National Portfolio Organisations and Major Partner Museums, All England**
Earned and contributed income in National Portfolio Organisations and Major Partner Museums from constant sample (£000s):
All England:
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2017/18 2018/19 2019/20
Earned 880,000 899,000 841,620
Contributed 201,000 217,000 206,873
Total 1,081,000 1,116,000 1,048,493
**----- End of picture text -----**
**KPI 4:** EARNED AND CONTRIBUTED INCOME IN NATIONAL PORTFOLIO ORGANISATIONS AND MAJOR PARTNER MUSEUMS
**----- Start of picture text -----**
£1,200,000
£1,000,000 £217,000
£201,000
£206,873
£800,000 £880,000 £899,000
£841,620
£600,000
£400,000
£200,000
£0
2017/18 2018/19 2019/20
EARNED CONTRIBUTED
**----- End of picture text -----**
Breakdown by five Arts Council areas: combined earned and contributed income in National Portfolio Organisations and Major Partner Museums by area (£000s)[4] :
**----- Start of picture text -----**
AREA 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20
London 524,000 539,000 493,205
Midlands 199,000 204,000 168,159
North 188,000 199,000 168,444
South East 89,000 96,000 142,436
South West 82,000 78,000 76,247
**----- End of picture text -----**
> 4 Totals may vary due to rounding.
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**KPI 4:** EARNED AND CONTRIBUTED INCOME IN NATIONAL PORTFOLIO ORGANISATIONS AND MAJOR PARTNER MUSEUMS BY ARTS COUNCIL AREA
**----- Start of picture text -----**
£500,000
£400,000
£300,000
£200,000
£100,000
£0
2017/18 2018/19 2019/20
INCOME (£MILLIONS)
**----- End of picture text -----**
**LONDON MIDLANDS NORTH SOUTH EAST SOUTH WEST**
## **KPI 5: Proportion of National Portfolio Organisations undertaking international activities in the reporting year**
Proportion of National Portfolio Organisations undertaking international activities in the reporting year (including England-only tours):
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2017/18 2018/19 2019/20
% touring internationally 21% 39% 28%
% with international dimension 57% 67% 51%
**----- End of picture text -----**
**KPI 5:** PROPORTION OF NPOs UNDERTAKING INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES
**----- Start of picture text -----**
80%
70% 67%
60% 57%
51%
50%
39%
40%
30% 28%
21%
20%
10%
0%
2017/18 2018/19 2019/20
**----- End of picture text -----**
**% TOURING INTERNATIONALLY % WITH INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION**
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## **KPI 6: Total number of schools engaged in meaningful contact by Arts Council funded Bridge Organisations**
||2018/19|2019/20|2020/21|
|---|---|---|---|
|Total number of schools5engaged in meaningful
contact by Arts Council funded Bridge Organisations|5,153|4,935|3,496|
**KPI 6:** TOTAL NUMBER OF SCHOOLS ENGAGED IN MEANINGFUL CONTACT BY ARTS COUNCIL FUNDED BRIDGE ORGANISATIONS
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2018/19 5,153
2019/20 4,935
2020/21 3,496
0% 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000
NUMBER OF SCHOOLS
REPORTING YEAR
**----- End of picture text -----**
**KPI 7:** THE PROPORTION OF NATIONAL LOTTERY PROJECT GRANT APPLICATIONS PROCESSED WITHIN THE PUBLISHED TIMEFRAME
**----- Start of picture text -----**
99.83
99.13
2016/17 99.73
95.50
97.07
2017/18 95.74
96.44
96.19
2018/19 96.40
99.32
97.42
2019/20
98.94
94.95
95.50
2020/21
95.06
84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98 100 102
A B C TARGET
**----- End of picture text -----**
- **A** % of applications for up to £15,000 processed in six weeks (up to end of January 2021) or in 10 weeks (from February 2021)
- **B** % of applications for over £15,001 processed in 12 weeks (up to end of January 2021) or in 16 weeks (from February 2021)
- **C** Overall % of applications processed within target time
In February 2021, Arts Council England temporarily changed the National Lottery Project Grants turnaround times, from 6/12 weeks to 10/16 weeks due to the increased demand the scheme was receiving.
- 5 Includes all state-funded nursery, primary, secondary, and special schools (included NMSS and independent special schools), and PRU/alternative provision schools. Does not include sixth form colleges, sixth form centres, so-called ‘all through’ schools, and independent schools.
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## FINANCIAL REVIEW, GRANT-IN-AID
## **Our income**
Arts Council England receives Grant-in-Aid from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). DCMS provided Grant-in-Aid of £1,231 million for the year (2019/20: £492 million), which included £691 million for the Culture Recovery Fund, grants programmes and £71.1 million of capital funds to allocate as grants. It also included funding from the Department for Education of £82.1 million (2019/20: £80.8 million) to support plans for music and cultural education. The graph below shows our total income from both Grant-in-Aid and the National Lottery over the last four years.
## OUR INCOME
**----- Start of picture text -----**
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21
£M
**----- End of picture text -----**
**GIA £M LOTTERY £M**
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## GRANT-IN-AID RESTRICTED INCOME
The Arts Council received funding specifically for the following programmes and projects during 2020/21:
**----- Start of picture text -----**
REVENUE FUNDING CAPITAL FUNDING
£MILLION £MILLION
Libraries Taskforce 0.27 –
Cultural Investment Fund 1.33 0.30
Coventry City of Culture 4.50 1.40
Culture Recovery Fund 690.63 58.88
Loneliness Fund 5.03 –
Edinburgh Festival 1.00 –
Northern Culture Regeneration Fund – 1.72
Arts Infopoint UK 0.03 –
Cultural Admin 0.13 –
NYDC 0.20 –
Sorrell National Art&Design clubs 0.13 –
Expansion of Bridge networks 0.62 –
Museums and Schools 1.20 –
Music for Youth 0.11 –
**----- End of picture text -----**
## GRANT-IN-AID EXPENDITURE
Our expenditure increased by 147 per cent in 2020/21. The majority of this increase was due to the Culture Recovery Fund programmes which the Arts Council administered on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Expenditure of £426 million in relation to round 1 of the Culture Recovery Fund: Grants Programme, £263 million in relation to round 2 of the Culture Recovery Fund: Grants Programme, and £59 million in relation to the Capital Kickstart programme are included in these accounts. In addition, the Arts Council administered the Culture Recovery Fund: Repayable Finance
programme. The accountable body for these loans is the DCMS and therefore the loans are not included in these accounts.
In 2017 the Arts Council announced allocations for its National Portfolio Organisations for the period 2018-22. Of grants relating to the 2020/21 financial year, the third year of this portfolio, £340 million are included in these accounts (2019/20: £336 million).
In addition, we spent £25 million (2019/20: £16 million) through grants and direct expenditure on development and investment programmes and £78 million (2019/20: £77 million) on Music Education Hubs.
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## GRANT-IN-AID EXPENDITURE 2017-2021
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2020/21 1,236
2019/20 494
2018/19 487
2017/18 497
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000
£m
**----- End of picture text -----**
## GRANT-IN-AID EXPENDITURE (£m)
**----- Start of picture text -----**
CULTURE RECOVERY
FUND GRANTS
RESTRICTED – OTHER
MUSIC EDUCATION HUBS
DEVELOPMENT FUNDS
ARTS COUNCIL
PROJECT GRANTS
NATIONAL PORTFOLIO
ORGANISATIONS
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
2019/20 2020/21
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As a non-departmental public body, we have a duty to stay within our departmental expenditure limits (DEL) budgets set by DCMS, irrespective of how the financial statements then translate when prepared under the Charities SORP.
Our out-turn against our revenue DEL budgets, set by DCMS, is a £0.33 million underspend (2019/20: £0.23 million underspend). However, the statement of financial activities shows net expenditure for the year of £8.47 million (2019/20: net expenditure of £0.55 million).
The difference between performance against our DEL and the net expenditure for the year is attributable to adjustments related to pension costs, the treatment of provisions (which include the West Yorkshire Pension Fund liability) – ie new provisions and unutilised provisions are not included within our DEL totals until they are utilised. This does not match the accounting treatment but is consistent with HM Treasury’s consolidated budgeting guidance.
At 31 March 2021, Arts Council England had unrestricted reserves of £301,000 (2019/20: £11.8 million) together with £1.4 million (2019/20: £1.2 million) restricted income funds and endowment capital funds reserves. Our policy on reserves has been to ensure that we hold sufficient funds to maintain liquidity, to cover unforeseen short-term cash requirements and to cover planned future expenditure. We review this policy and our reserves position annually. However, our use of reserves is restricted by the Government’s budgetary controls, which means that we would require HM Treasury approval to use our reserves if it were necessary to do so. In March 2020, to support our response to the Covid-19 crisis, National Council and HM Treasury agreed that we could use all £12.8 million of our unrestricted reserves for emergency funds to support the arts and culture sector.
Fees paid to the National Audit Office for Grant-in-Aid audit services during 2020/21 were £80,000 including VAT (2019/20: £72,990 including VAT). Full details in relation to financial
instruments are given in note 26 to the Grant-inAid accounts.
A significant amount of work was carried out by ACE staff to confirm that the grant awards were made appropriately and that there has been no fraud or error. This included obtaining Certified Income & Expenditure reports from Independent Accountants and obtaining evidence of expenditure from a sample of Grant Applicants to confirm that this was in line with the Grant Funding Agreements. 10% of CRF1 grant recipients were sampled and satisfactory information was received from all applicants within the sample.
Due to a change in the rules relating to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) a potential issue of double-funding was identified. Initial checks have identified that approximately £7.5 million worth of grants was awarded to cover costs where the applicant had also claimed CJRS funding. £6 million of this funding has been reclaimed and the process to recover the remaining £1.5 million has commenced. Further checks on potential CJRS duplicate funding will be carried out once HMRC data is made available to us.
Due to the additional work carried out on Post Event Assurance for CRF Grants and CJRS the formal signing of the AR&A by the Chief Executive and Chair was delayed from June 2021 to November 2021.
## LOTTERY EXPENDITURE
Arts Council England is one of the bodies designated to distribute funds from the National Lottery by the National Lottery etc Act 1993 (as amended by the National Lottery Act 1998). New Lottery grant commitments in the year totalled £168 million (2019/20: £187 million).
At year-end, a total of £216 million (2019/20: £345 million) accepted grant commitments remained outstanding and awaiting payment. This compares with a balance in the National Lottery Distribution Fund, plus bank balances, of £211 million (2019/20: £263 million). We monitor levels of Lottery income closely, and the level of outstanding grant commitments is considered
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## LOTTERY PROGRAMME EXPENDITURE (£m)
**----- Start of picture text -----**
EMERGENCY
RESPONSE FUND
CAPITAL
DEVELOPMENT FUNDS
ARTS COUNCIL
NATIONAL LOTTERY
PROJECT GRANTS
0 20 40 60 80 100
**----- End of picture text -----**
sensible, based on past and projected income flows, given that our £216 million of Lottery grant commitments are known to be spread over a five-year period from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2026.
Actual proceeds from the National Lottery received in 2020/21 were £253 million. This was higher than the £248 million received in 2019/20 and was due to several large jackpot rollovers in the year.
Our Lottery balance policy was reviewed by National Council in March 2020. As a result of the pandemic, and the proposed Emergency Response Fund programme, National Council agreed to a temporary reduction in the reserves requirement to £10 million. This was a short-term proposal intended to manage the immediate impact of the crisis on the Arts sector and allowed us to put £143 million of Lottery funding into our Emergency Response Fund. In December a further review of the policy was carried out and based on an assessment of the relevant risks, National Council approved that our Lottery budgets should preserve a balance of at least £25 million in each year over the period to March 2023. This is the equivalent of approximately one month’s worth of income, which we feel is sufficient to mitigate the risks involved while ensuring that we continue to commit to as high a value of Lottery grant programmes
as possible during these difficult times for the sector.
Our Lottery balance exceeds this amount at year end due to the need to hold cash for grants with longer term cashflow requirements beyond 31 March 2021.
Further details of the activities and policies of Arts Council England are included in the National Lottery report 2020/21 (see pages 168 to 177).
Full details in relation to financial instruments are given in note 19 of the notes to the Lottery distribution accounts.
Fees payable to the National Audit Office for Lottery external audit services during 2020/21 were £62,500 (2019/20: £60,825).
## CONSOLIDATED ACTIVITIES
We prepare separate accounts for our Grantin-Aid and Lottery distribution as required by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. We do not prepare a full set of consolidated accounts due to the differing accounting policies we are required to follow under the two separate accounts directions. However, to give a better understanding of our activities, we have prepared the following illustrative results for the two accounts combined for the 2020/21 and 2019/20 financial years.
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2020/21 2019/20
£000s £000s
INCOME
Grant-in-Aid income 1,230,475 492,057
Share of the National Lottery Distribution Fund 253,130 247,871
Investment returns on the Distribution Fund 148 1,199
Other income 4,753 1,032
Total income 1,488,506 742,159
EXPENDITURE
Net Grant-in-Aid grant commitments 1,219,363 469,536
Other Grant-in-Aid arts expenditure 3,372 6,004
Net Lottery grant commitments 158,888 177,315
Lottery Invoiced Arts Expenditure 1,192 586
Support costs 36,800 36,776
Total expenditure 1,419,615 690,217
Net gains/(losses) on investments 55 (70)
Net income/(expenditure) 68,946 51,872
Gain on revaluation of heritage assets 2,648 8,629
Actuarial gains/(losses) on defined benefit pension schemes 1,393 (1,948)
4,041 6,681
Net movement in funds 72,987 58,553
Consolidated reserves brought forward 384,563 326,010
Consolidated reserves carried forward 457,550 384,563
**----- End of picture text -----**
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Administration costs are 2.38 per cent of income (2019/20: 5.94 per cent). Grant-in-Aid administration (excluding one-off IT costs) totalled £18.49 million, which is 1.49 per cent of income (2019/20: 4.88 per cent). Lottery administration (excluding one-off IT costs) totalled £17.10 million, which is 6.71 per cent of income (2019/20: 7.48 per cent). The split over the two income streams continues to reflect the level of activity in Lottery investment compared to Grant-in-Aid.
## PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
_Let’s Create_ , our Strategy for the next 10 years, describes our vision that, by 2030, England will be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where everyone has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences.
To help us achieve this vision, we will publish a series of Delivery Plans over the next decade. These will set out in more detail the steps we will take to deliver _Let’s Create_ and how we will resource them. The first Delivery Plan covers 2021-24.
In March 2021 we published the context for this Plan and the themes we’ll be focusing on, as well as how our existing funding programmes will resource our plans. We also introduced our Equality Objectives for the next three years.
Our five themes for this Delivery Plan have arisen out of our conversations with the Government and those working in the cultural sector over the course of the last year, and they are designed to focus on those areas viewed as being in most pressing need of attention and investment if we are to successfully navigate the new, post-pandemic landscape. The themes are:
It will only be possible to deliver _Let’s Create_ if there is shared commitment across the cultural sector to creating more inclusive working environments that develop and value all our talent. This means that we will actively support the development of safe workplaces where harassment and discrimination are challenged and eliminated so that everyone is treated equitably and fairly and supported to realise their full potential.
The four Equality Objectives below set out how we will put our legal duty into action over the next three years. They will remain in place for the duration of this Delivery Plan. These objectives will inform all aspects of the design and delivery of our work and will be supported through the development of discrete Equality Analyses for all new work that we undertake.
Our four Equality Objectives are:
1. We will ensure a more equitable distribution of our investment to improve opportunities for everyone, especially those with underrepresented protected characteristics and from disadvantaged socio-economic groups.
2. We will invest in inclusive cultural organisations whose leadership, governance and workforce – and the independent creative practitioners they support – represent the diversity of contemporary England.
3. We will invest in a cultural sector that is more relevant to all of England’s communities, especially those that have been historically underserved by public investment in culture.
4. We will become a more inclusive and relevant national development agency for creativity and culture that models good practice.
1. A ‘fit for the future’ cultural sector
2. Supporting individuals
3. Strengthening our place-based approach and contributing to levelling up
4. Working internationally
5. How the Arts Council will change
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## STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES’ AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S RESPONSIBILITIES
Under both the Royal Charter and the National Lottery etc Act 1993 (as amended by the National Lottery Act 1998), Arts Council England is required to prepare a statement of accounts for the financial period in the form and on the basis directed by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with the consent of HM Treasury. The accounts are to be prepared on an accruals basis and to show a true and fair view of Arts Council England’s state of affairs at the year end and of our incoming resources, resources expended and cash flows for the financial year.
The Grant-in-Aid accounts are also prepared so as to comply with the Charities SORP 2019, and the Lottery distribution accounts are prepared in line with the Government Financial Reporting Manual. Both sets of accounts are also expected to:
- observe the accounts directions issued by the Secretary of State which set out accounting and disclosure requirements, apply suitable accounting policies on a consistent basis, and make judgements and estimates on a reasonable basis
- state whether applicable accounting standards as set out in the Charity Statement of Recommended Practice or Government Financial Reporting Manual have been followed, and disclose and explain any material departures in the financial statements
- be prepared on a going concern basis, unless it is inappropriate to presume that Arts Council England will continue in operation
The Principal Accounting Officer of DCMS has designated the Chief Executive as Arts Council England’s Accounting Officer. The responsibilities of the accounting officers for Grant-in-Aid and Lottery distribution arm’s length bodies are set out in chapter three of _Managing Public Money_ . Formally the Accounting Officer is the person who Parliament calls to account for stewardship of its resources.
The Accounting Officer signing off these accounts has gained assurance in the following ways:
- a meeting with the Chief Finance Officer to go through the financial controls
- receiving feedback from Management Committee on review of internal audit reports and other internal control matters
- discussing the annual review and accounts at an Executive Board meeting attended by Executive Board colleagues, including the Chief Financial Officer
- attending Performance and Audit Committee meetings where matters are scrutinised
The Accounting Officer confirms that, as far as he is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the entity’s auditors are unaware, and the Accounting Officer has taken all the steps that he ought to have taken to make himself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the entity’s auditors are aware of that information.
The Accounting Officer confirms that, as far as he is aware, the annual report and accounts as a whole is fair, balanced and understandable and he takes responsibility for the annual report and accounts and the judgement required for determining that it is fair, balanced and understandable.
In approving these accounts, the Trustees have complied with their duty under section 11 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to guidance published by the Charity Commission.
A copy of the Grant-in-Aid and Lottery distribution accounts directions are available from the Accounting Officer, Arts Council England, 21 Bloomsbury, London, WC1B 3HF.
Dr Darren Henley OBE Sir Nicholas Serota CH Chief Executive Chair 30 NOVEMBER 2021 30 NOVEMBER 2021
30 NOVEMBER 2021
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## THE AUDIT REPORT OF THE COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
## OPINION ON FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
I have audited the financial statements of Arts Council England, Grant-in-Aid for the year ended 31 March 2021 under the Royal Charter and the Secretary of State Directions thereunder. The financial statements comprise: the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, the Cash Flow Statement and the related notes, including the significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom accounting standards including FRS 102, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
I have also audited the information in the Remuneration Report that is described in that report as having been audited.
## BASIS FOR OPINIONS
I conducted my audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) (UK), applicable law and Practice Note 10 ‘Audit of Financial Statements of Public Sector Entities in the United Kingdom’. My responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of my certificate.
Those standards require me and my staff to comply with the Financial Reporting Council’s Revised Ethical Standard 2019. I have also elected to apply the ethical standards relevant to listed entities. I am independent of the Arts Council England in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to my audit of the financial statements in the UK. My staff and I have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements.
I believe that the audit evidence I have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for my opinion.
In my opinion:
- the financial statements give a true and fair view of the state of the Arts Council England’s affairs as at 31 March 2021 and of its incoming resources and application of resources for the year then ended; and
- the financial statements have been properly prepared in accordance with the Royal Charter and Secretary of State directions issued thereunder.
## OPINION ON REGULARITY
In my opinion, in all material respects the income and expenditure recorded in the financial statements have been applied to the purposes intended by Parliament and the financial transactions recorded in the financial statements conform to the authorities which govern them.
## CONCLUSIONS RELATING TO GOING CONCERN
In auditing the financial statements, I have concluded that the Arts Council England’s use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work I have performed, I have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the Arts Council England’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
My responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Trustees and Accounting Officer with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
The going concern basis of accounting for the Arts Council England is adopted in consideration of the requirements set out in
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financial reporting framework, which require entities to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements where it anticipated that the services which they provide will continue into the future.
## OTHER INFORMATION
The other information comprises information included in the Annual report but does not include the financial statements and my auditor’s report thereon. The Trustees and Accounting Officer are responsible for the other information. My opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in my report, I do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. In connection with my audit of the financial statements, my responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or my knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If I identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, I am required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work I have performed, I conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, I am required to report that fact.
I have nothing to report in this regard.
## MATTERS ON WHICH I REPORT BY EXCEPTION
In the light of the knowledge and understanding of Arts Council England and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, I have not identified material misstatements in the Annual report.
I have nothing to report in respect of the following matters which I report to you if, in my opinion:
- adequate accounting records have not been kept or returns adequate for my audit have not been received from branches not visited by my staff; or
- the financial statements and the parts of the Remuneration Report to be audited are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
- I have not received all of the information and explanations I require for my audit; or
- the Governance Statement does not reflect compliance with HM Treasury’s guidance.
## RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE TRUSTEES AND ACCOUNTING OFFICER
As explained more fully in the Statement of Accounting Officer’s Responsibilities, the Trustees and the Accounting Officer are responsible for:
- the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the applicable financial reporting framework and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view;
## OPINION ON OTHER MATTERS
In my opinion:
- the parts of the Remuneration Report to be audited have been properly prepared in accordance with Secretary of State directions made under the Royal Charter;
- the information given in the Annual Report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements.
- internal controls as Trustees and the Accounting Officer determines is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statement to be free form material misstatement, whether due to fraud of error.
- assessing the Arts Council England’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Trustees and
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the Accounting Officer anticipate that the services provided by Arts Council England will not continue to be provided in the future.
AUDITOR’S RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE AUDIT OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements
My responsibility is to audit the financial statements in accordance with the Royal Charter.
My objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue a certificate that includes my opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
I design procedures in line with my responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of noncompliance with laws and regulation, including fraud.
My procedures included the following:
- Inquiring of management, the Arts Council England’s head of internal audit and those charged with governance, including obtaining and reviewing supporting documentation relating to the Arts Council England’s policies and procedures relating to:
- identifying, evaluating and complying with laws and regulations and whether they were aware of any instances of non-compliance;
- detecting and responding to the risks of fraud and whether they have knowledge of any actual, suspected or alleged fraud; and
- the internal controls established to mitigate risks related to fraud or noncompliance with laws and regulations including the Arts Council England’s controls relating to the Royal Charter, and Managing Public Money;
- assessing the incentives for management to manipulate reported income and expenditure to remain within voted Parliamentary control totals;
- reviewing the Department’s accounting policies;
- using analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships and transactions;
- discussing among the engagement team and involving relevant internal specialists, including actuaries for the defined benefit pensions obligation regarding how and where fraud might occur in the financial statements and any potential indicators of fraud. As part of this discussion, I identified potential for fraud in the following areas: revenue recognition and posting of unusual journals.
- obtaining an understanding of the Arts Council England’s framework of authority as well as other legal and regulatory frameworks that the Arts Council England operates in, focusing on those laws and regulations that had a direct effect on the financial statements or that had a fundamental effect on the operations of the Arts Council England. The key laws and regulations I considered in this context included Secretary of State Directions issued under the Royal Charter, tax law, employment law, and Managing Public Money.
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In addition to the above, my procedures to respond to identified risks included the following:
- reviewing the financial statement disclosures and testing to supporting documentation to assess compliance with relevant laws and regulations discussed above;
- enquiring of management, the Audit Committee concerning actual and potential litigation and claims;
- reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance and the Board;
- in addressing the risk of fraud through management override of controls, testing the appropriateness of journal entries and other adjustments; assessing whether the judgements made in making accounting estimates are indicative of a potential bias; and evaluating the business rationale of any significant transactions that are unusual or outside the normal course of business; and
I also communicated relevant identified laws and regulations and potential fraud risks to all engagement team members including internal specialists and remained alert to any indications of fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations throughout the audit.
A further description of my responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at:
This description forms part of my certificate.
In addition, I am required to obtain evidence sufficient to give reasonable assurance that the income and expenditure reported in the financial statements have been applied to the purposes intended by Parliament and the financial transactions conform to the authorities which govern them.
I communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that I identify during my audit.
## REPORT
I have no observations to make on these financial statements.
## Gareth Davies Comptroller and Auditor General
2 DECEMBER 2021
## **National Audit Office**
157–197 Buckingham Palace Road Victoria London SW1W 9SP
## **www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities**
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## STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE PERIOD ENDING 31 MARCH 2021
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NOTE UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED ENDOWMENT TOTAL TOTAL
FUNDS FUNDS FUNDS 2020/21 2019/20
£000s £000s £000s £000s £000s
INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM:
Donations and legacies 2a 364,422 866,131 72 1,230,625 492,133
Investments 2b – – 6 6 149
Charitable activities 3 513 2,440 – 2,953 736
Other: Lottery distribution accounts 4 17,425 – – 17,425 18,821
Total income and endowments 382,360 868,571 78 1,251,009 511,839
EXPENDITURE ON:
Charitable activities (including Governance costs) 4 373,696 868,414 – 1,242,110 493,497
Other: Support costs attributable to
4 17,425 – – 17,425 18,821
Lottery distributions accounts
Total expenditure 391,121 868,414 – 1,259,535 512,318
Net gains/(losses) on investments 9 (10) – 65 55 (70)
Total income/(expenditure) before other
(8,771) 157 143 (8,471) (549)
recognised gains and losses
OTHER RECOGNISED GAINS/LOSSES
Gain on revaluation of heritage assets 10 2,643 5 – 2,648 8,629
Actuarial gains/(losses) on defined
7 1,393 – – 1,393 (1,948)
benefit pension schemes
Net movement in funds 31 (4,735) 162 143 (4,430) 6,131
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Balance brought forward at 1 April 255,312 6,123 539 261,974 255,843
Total funds carried forward at 31 March 250,577 6,285 682 257,544 261,974
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ALL AMOUNTS STATED IN THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES RELATE TO CONTINUING ACTIVITIES. THE NOTES ON PAGES 99 TO 137 FORM PART OF THESE ACCOUNTS.
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## BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 MARCH 2021
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NOTE UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED ENDOWMENT TOTAL TOTAL
FUNDS FUNDS FUNDS 31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020
£000s £000s £000s £000s £000s
FIXED ASSETS
Tangible assets 10 3,407 – – 3,407 2,967
Heritage assets – Works of art 10 247,372 5,556 – 252,928 249,944
Investments 9 – – 683 683 539
Total fixed assets 250,779 5,556 683 257,018 253,450
CURRENT ASSETS
Debtors 12 – 288,051 – 288,051 103,351
Due from Arts Council Lottery accounts 11 – 1,488 – 1,488 3,042
Grants paid in advance 13 1,128 – – 1,128 5,555
Cash and cash equivalents 19/20 18,131 170,105 – 188,236 14,389
Total current assets 19,259 459,644 – 478,903 126,337
LIABILITIES:
CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR
Grants outstanding 14 13,466 456,555 – 470,021 106,107
Creditors 15 4,425 2,361 – 6,786 4,642
Total creditors: amounts falling within one year 17,891 458,916 – 476,807 110,749
Net current assets 1,368 728 – 2,096 15,588
Total assets less current liabilities 252,147 6,284 683 259,114 269,038
CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE AFTER MORE THAN ONE YEAR
Provisions for liabilities and charges 16 1,066 – – 1,066 3,089
Net assets excluding pension liability 251,081 6,284 683 258,048 265.949
Defined benefit pension scheme liability 7 504 – – 504 3,975
Net assets including pension liability 250,577 6,284 683 257,544 261,974
THE FUNDS OF THE CHARITY
Represented by income funds 17
Unrestricted fund 301 – – 301 11,846
Restricted fund – 728 – 728 652
Represented by capital funds 17
Endowment funds – – 683 683 539
Designated fund 247,373 247,373 244,473
Donated asset reserve – 5,556 – 5,556 5,471
Capital reserve 3,407 – – 3,407 2,967
Pension reserve 7 (504) – – (504) (3,974)
Total charity funds 250,577 6,284 683 257,544 261,974
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THE NOTES ON PAGES 99 TO 137 FORM PART OF THESE ACCOUNTS.
Dr Darren Henley OBE Chief Executive 30 NOVEMBER 2021
Sir Nicholas Serota CH Chair
30 NOVEMBER 2021
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## CASH FLOW STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021
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NOTE 2020/21 2019/20
£000s £000s
CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES :
Funds received from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport 1,048,602 433,020
Other cash receipts 19,256 18,655
Grants paid to arts organisations and other bodies (851,023) (490,301)
Cash paid to and on behalf of employees (29,109) (29,059)
Other cash payments (12,327) (10,401)
Net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities 18 175,399 (78,086)
CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES:
Interest received on short-term cash deposits – 136
Dividends received 6 13
Purchase of tangible fixed assets (1,470) (926)
– –
Sale of tangible fixed assets
Net cash provided by/(used in) investing activities (1,464) (777)
CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES:
Endowment Income/(Investments) (88) (13)
Net cash provided by/(used in) financing activities (88) (13)
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period 19/20 173,847 (78,876)
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the reporting period 20 14,389 93,265
Change in cash and cash equivalents due to exchange rate movements – –
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting period 20 188,236 14,389
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THE NOTES ON PAGES 99 TO 137 FORM PART OF THESE ACCOUNTS.
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## NOTES TO THE GRANT-IN-AID ACCOUNTS
## 1a. BASIS OF ACCOUNTS
We have prepared these accounts in accordance with the Accounts Direction issued by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in May 2002. They meet the requirements of the Companies Acts, and of the Statements of Standard Accounting Practice/ Financial Reporting Standards issued and adopted by the Accounting Standards Board, so far as those requirements are appropriate. The accounts are presented in accordance with the Charities SORP 2019 issued by the Charity Commission in 2019.
The accounts are prepared on a going concern basis and a historic cost basis. The Accounts Direction requires the inclusion of fixed assets at their value to the business by reference to current costs. However, for 2020/21, the values of fixed assets expressed in current cost terms, with the exception of the Works of Art Collection, are not materially different to historic costs. Therefore these fixed assets are shown at historic cost on the balance sheet. Assets held in the Works of Art Collection are disclosed at market value.
Arts Council England no longer owns any freehold land and buildings. All of our offices are leased. The lease commitments are disclosed within Note 21 of the Grant-in-Aid accounts.
Separate accounts have been prepared for Arts Council England’s Lottery distribution, in accordance with the directions issued by the Secretary of State, which follow different accounting policies. Due to the different accounting policies used in the preparation of Grant-in-Aid and Lottery accounts, in the opinion of the Trustees, it is not possible to prepare full consolidated accounts covering both Grant-inAid and Lottery activities as it would not provide a fair view of the application of Arts Council England’s resources. In this respect, we have not been able to comply with paragraph 24.5 of the SORP issued by the Charity Commission in 2019. However, we have included a summary of the consolidated figures for our combined activities in the management commentary on page 86.
## 1b. INCOME
Grant-in-Aid from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is taken to the Statement of Financial Activities in the year to which it relates. All other income is accounted for once entitlement is probable.
## 1c. EXPENDITURE
Grant expenditure is charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the year in which the grant is offered and in which funding for the grant is received from DCMS. In most circumstances this will be the same as the year in which the funded activities take place. However, in some cases grant expenditure is recognised in the accounts where the funded activity is due to take place in future years. Any amounts unpaid from grants at the year end are shown in the balance sheet as creditors. Grant commitments made in the year relating to future years’ activity as disclosed in note 14 of the accounts are not charged to the statement of financial activities, as we cannot recognise Grant-in-Aid income to match against these commitments before we have received it. In this respect, we have not been able to comply with paragraph 7.19 of the SORP issued by the Charity Commission in 2019. The Trustees do not believe this would provide a true and fair view of Arts Council England’s resources. Any advance payments to funded organisations in anticipation of grants to be charged in the following financial year are shown as assets in the balance sheet.
Expenditure classified as activities undertaken directly relates to expenditure supporting the arts other than grants. This includes the cost of delivering major arts policies and projects. Support costs comprise operational expenditure, including staff costs, directly attributable to charitable activities.
Governance costs comprise an apportionment of general administration expenditure based on an estimate of staff time and direct costs such as the cost of administering National Council and external and internal audit.
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## 1d. DEPRECIATION AND FIXED ASSETS
## **Tangible fixed assets excluding heritage assets**
Depreciation is provided on all tangible fixed assets (excluding freehold land) at rates calculated to write off the cost less estimated residual value of each asset systematically over its expected useful life as follows:
- freehold buildings: 50 years
- leasehold buildings: life of the lease
- fixtures and fittings: five years
- motor vehicles: five years
A full year’s depreciation is provided in the year of an asset’s acquisition, and none in the year of its disposal. Software costs are written off in full in the year of acquisition. Except for heritage assets, all individual assets valued greater than £2,000 are capitalised. There is no _de minimis_ limit for heritage assets.
## **Heritage assets**
Arts Council England is guardian and trustee over one collection of heritage assets which is held in furtherance of our mission to champion, develop and invest in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives. The collection is accounted for as follows:
## **Works of art**
The Works of Art Collection is revalued at market value on a rolling basis, with the highest value items revalued annually. The collection is treated as a non-operational heritage asset and is not held for the purpose of re-sale. Any surplus or deficit on revaluation is reported in the statement of financial activities. The items in the collection are deemed to have indeterminate lives, so the Trustees do not consider it appropriate to charge depreciation. Additions to the collection are made by purchase or donation. Purchases are initially recorded at cost and donations are recorded at current value ascertained by the curator with reference to current knowledge of prices, the market and the advice of other experts where necessary.
## 1e. LEASES
Costs in respect of operating leases are charged to the statement of financial activities on a straight line basis over the life of the lease. Lease incentives (eg rent free periods) are recognised as an integral part of the total lease expense, over the term of the lease.
## 1f. TAXATION
Arts Council England, as a registered charity (1036733), is considered to pass the tests set out in paragraph 1, schedule 6 of the Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable trust for UK income tax purposes. Accordingly, the charity is potentially exempt from taxation in respect of income or capital gains received within categories covered by part 10 Income Tax Act 2007 or section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, to the extent that such income or gains are applied exclusively to charitable purposes. No tax charge has arisen in the year.
## 1g. PENSIONS
We provide a defined benefit pension scheme for our employees (the Arts Council Retirement Plan 1994) and are a participating employer in the West Yorkshire Pension Fund. The Arts Council Retirement Plan is a multi-employer scheme and we cannot identify our share of the underlying assets and liabilities. We have therefore accounted for this scheme as if it were a defined contribution scheme, in accordance with Charities SORP (FRS102), with the costs of the scheme charged to the statement of financial activities. The West Yorkshire Pension Fund is also a multi-employer scheme, but, as a local government pension scheme, we are able to identify our share of the underlying assets and liabilities and have therefore accounted for this scheme as a defined benefit scheme in line with Charities SORP (FRS102).
All employers are legally required to enrol their staff onto a workplace pension scheme. As such we now also provide a defined contribution scheme for staff who are automatically enrolled (via The People’s Pension) if they choose not to join the Arts Council Retirement Plan.
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## 1h. APPORTIONED COSTS
Arts Council England incurs administration costs that relate to activities funded from Grant-in-Aid and the National Lottery Distribution Fund. We are required to apportion these costs between the two areas on a full cost basis in accordance with good accounting practice.
In accordance with the Charities SORP we have apportioned administration costs between our different activities. We have recharged both pay and non-pay expenditure using staff time as a basis for calculating the apportionment. The notes to the statement of financial activities will show the costs apportioned to Arts Council England Lottery distribution accounts where appropriate.
## 1i. CHANGE IN ACCOUNTING POLICY
There were no changes in accounting policy during 2020/21.
For organisations which prepare their accounts under IFRS, a new accounting standard, IFRS16 (Leases), came into effect during 2019/20.
As our Grant-in-Aid accounts are prepared under Charities SORP (FRS102) we do not have to comply with this Standard and are required to continue using IAS17 instead.
## 1j. FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS
We have adopted Charities SORP (FRS102) on financial instruments. There has been no impact on the accounts. Further information on our financial instruments is disclosed within Note 26.
## 1k. SECURITY FOR CAPITAL GRANTS
Since January 2018, the standard conditions for Grant-in-Aid and Lottery capital grants for building projects of between £500,000 and £5 million give the Arts Council the option to seek security over land or buildings to prevent the assets being sold, mortgaged or put to an alternative use without the Arts Council’s consent. For grants below £1 million, Arts Council England would request a deed of covenant and restriction on title. For grants above £1 million, Arts Council England would register a legal charge over the asset.
## 2 INCOME
## 2a. VOLUNTARY INCOME
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UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED ENDOWMENT TOTAL TOTAL
FUNDS FUNDS FUNDS 2020/21 2019/20
£000s £000s £000s £000s £000s
DONATIONS AND LEGACIES
CASH GRANT-IN-AID VOTED BY PARLIAMENT AND PAID IN FULL
– –
Core funding – revenue 347,936 347,936 346,706
Administration 15,216 3,431 – 18,647 17,090
Core capital 1,270 – – 1,270 870
– –
Ring-fenced funds 862,622 862,622 127,390
–
364,422 866,053 1,230,475 492,056
OTHER DONATIONS AND LEGACIES
Donations/Bequests 0 78 72 150 76
Donations and
364,422 866,131 72 1,230,625 492,132
Legacies income
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ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
## 2b. INVESTMENT INCOME
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UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED ENDOWMENT TOTAL TOTAL
FUNDS FUNDS FUNDS 2020/21 2019/20
£000s £000s £000s £000s £000s
INVESTMENT INCOME
Bank Interest received – – – – 136
Dividend Income – – 6 6 13
Investment Income – 0 6 6 149
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## 3. INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
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UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED TOTAL TOTAL
FUNDS FUNDS 2020/21 2019/20
£000s £000s £000s £000s
GRANTS, SPONSORSHIP AND DONATIONS RECEIVED
Local Authorities 17 – 17 274
Non-government bodies 30 4 34 –
Other central Government bodies 414 2,436 2,850 442
Other grants, sponsorship and
10 – 10 12
donations
Public Corporations 12 – 12 –
Sundry 30 – 30 7
Net incoming/(outgoing) resources
513 2,440 2,953 735
for the year
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## 4. ANALYSIS OF EXPENDITURE
Directions issued by the Secretary of State require that costs incurred which relate to both Grant-in-Aid and Lottery activities should be apportioned between the two in accordance with good accounting practice. Consequently, we have apportioned them accordingly, based on an assessment of time spent on each activity. As a proxy for this, we use the proportion of Grant-in-Aid and Lottery payments during the year as the basis of the apportionment.
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## 4a. EXPENDITURE ON CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
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ACTIVITIES GRANT
UNDERTAKEN FUNDING OF NET SUPPORT TOTAL TOTAL
DIRECTLY ACTIVITIES COSTS 2020/21 2019/20
£000s £000s £000s £000s £000s
National Portfolio
Organisations and 339,834 2,817 342,651 343,317
Major Partner Museums
Arts Council National
1,762 69 1,831 286
Lottery Project Grants
Development and
3,372 24,889 3,904 32,165 29,242
investment funds
Music Education Hubs 78,260 1,232 79,492 78,205
Restricted – Other 775,935 11,353 787,288 44,354
Lapsed and revoked –
(1,317) (1,317) (1,908)
commitments
3,372 1,219,363 19,375 1,242,110 493,495
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National Portfolio Organisations are those organisations of strategic importance with which the Arts Council has long-term, multiyear funding agreements. Development funding and activities are those specific projects funded by grants and direct arts expenditure. They provide essential leverage for national, regional and local partnerships, and act as investment in seed funding, research and development for the arts in England.
Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants is an open-access programme offering grants of between £1,000 – £100,000 for arts, museums and libraries projects, replacing Grants for the Arts. The programme sets out to achieve the Arts Council’s mission, ‘Great art and culture for everyone’. Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants supports a broad range of projects that create new work and sustain quality to help new audiences across England to engage with arts and culture.
Music Education Hubs are groups of organisations – such as local authorities, schools, other hubs, arts organisations, community or voluntary organisations – working together to create joined-up music education provision, respond to local need and fulfil the objectives of the hub. Hubs are coordinated by the hub lead organisation, which takes on responsibility for the funding and governance of the hub. The total amount of funding from the Department for Education in 2020/21 was £78.81 million (2019/20: £77.53 million).
Other restricted funds are those specific projects delivered through funds provided by partners as detailed in notes 2a and 3. These include £695 million in relation to the Culture Recovery Fund (2019/20 £0 million)
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## 4b. ANALYSIS OF SUPPORT COSTS
Directions issued by the Secretary of State require that costs incurred which relate to both Grant-in-Aid and Lottery activities should be apportioned between the two in accordance with good accounting practice. Consequently, we have apportioned them accordingly, based on an assessment of time spent on each activity. As a proxy for this, we use the proportion of Grant-in-Aid and Lottery payments during the year as the basis of the apportionment.
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TOTAL SUPPORT LESS CHARGED TOTAL GIA TOTAL GIA
COSTS 20/21 TO LOTTERY 2020/21 RESTATED
£000s £000s 2019/20
Staff costs 25,397 (13,188) 12,209 13,715
Indirect staff costs 782 74 856 568
Premises 2,095 (1,047) 1,048 1,391
Supplies & Services 3,298 (1,626) 1,672 1,427
Travel & Subsistence 39 (20) 19 847
Professional Fees 3,383 (813) 2,570 939
Central Costs 480 (130) 350 396
Depreciation 693 – 693 664
Other recharges – (353) (353) (313)
IT project costs 633 (322) 311 189
36,800 (17,425) 19,375 19,822
Corporate governance costs – – 629 1,333
included above
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Some figures which were classified in Note 4a as “Activities undertaken directly” in previous years have now been reclassified as “Net Support Costs”. As a result of this the prior year figures for Note 4b have been restated to ensure that the figures in both tables are consistent.
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## 4c. ANALYSIS OF GRANTS BY RECIPIENT
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GRANTS TO GRANTS TO TOTAL TOTAL
INSTITUTIONS INDIVIDUALS 2020/21 2019/20
£000s £000s £000s £000s
National Portfolio Organisations and
339,834 – 339,834 335,948
Major Partner Museums
Arts Council National Lottery Project
1,147 615 1,762 279
Grants
Strategic development,
12,394 12,495 24,889 16,018
communications & advocacy
Music Education Hubs 78,260 – 78,260 76,985
Culture Recovery Funds 688,954 – 688,954 –
Restricted – Other 86,981 – 86,981 42,213
Lapsed and revoked commitments (1,317) – (1,317) (1,908)
1,206,253 13,110 1,219,363 469,535
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A detailed breakdown of all grant commitments can be found at: **www.artscouncil.org.uk/governance/spending**
## 5a. STAFF COSTS
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TOTAL
LESS CHARGED GRANT-IN-AID TOTAL
TOTAL RESTRICTED TO LOTTERY 2020/21 2019/20
£000s £000s £000s £000s £000s
STAFF COSTS COMPRISE
Salaries and wages 20,125 1,653 10,405 8,067 10,926
Employer's National
2,135 171 982 982 974
Insurance
Employer's pension
3,811 316 1,753 1,742 1,899
contributions
Redundancy Costs 21 – (1) 22 86
Agency staff 938 814 49 75 108
27,030 2,954 13,188 10,888 13,993
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ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
Total salary costs were significantly lower this year mainly due to pension fund costs. During 201920 the costs of the ACRP deficit repayment plan (totalling £2.1m) were charged to the SoFA. These costs did not recur during 2020-21. In addition to this we received a lump sum payment from Staffordshire Pension Fund totalling approximately £1.6m which was also credited to the SoFA. Both of these issues resulted in staff costs being lower than the last financial year
The average number of full-time equivalent employees during the year was made up as follows:
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PERMANENT
STAFF AGENCY STAFF 2020/21 2019/20
Direct delivery of programmes 13 – 13 15
Support & corporate governance 534 19 553 523
547 19 566 538
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The average number of employees (headcount) during the year was made up as follows:
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PERMANENT
STAFF AGENCY STAFF 2020/21 2019/20
Direct delivery of programmes 14 – 14 17
Support & corporate governance 579 25 604 577
593 25 618 594
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## 5b. EMOLUMENTS BY BANDS
The number of employees whose remuneration, including redundancy pay, exceeded £60,000 for the year is detailed below. These figures do not include executive directors who are listed in the remuneration report.
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PENSION SCHEME
EMOLUMENTS DEFINED DEFINED NO TOTAL TOTAL
FOR THE YEAR BENEFIT CONTRIBUTION PENSION 2020/21 2019/20
£60,000-£69,999 14 3 – 17 13
£70,000-£79,999 8 – – 8 7
£80,000-£89,999 5 – – 5 7
£90,000-£99,999 – – – – –
£100,000-£109,999 1 – – 1 –
28 3 – 31 27
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## 6. COUNCIL MEMBERS’ EXPENSES
It is part of Council members’ duties to assess artistic work. The cost of their tickets for attendance at performance and events is met by the Arts Council. In 2020/21, due to Covid-19 and the various lockdowns, the total cost of tickets purchased for this purpose was £0 (2019/20: £1,394). All our Council members are able to claim back their travel and subsistence costs. The total amount reimbursed for travel and subsistence in the year is shown in note 8.
## 7. PENSIONS
We are a participating employer in the Arts Council Retirement Plan (1994) and the West Yorkshire Pension Fund (WYPF) and also contribute to a group personal pension arrangement.
All transactions generated as a result of the FRS102 report are charged initially to the Grantin-Aid accounts. The costs are then recharged across to the Lottery accounts in the same ratio as other salary costs. This ensures that both Grant-in-Aid and Lottery are correctly charged with their proportion of the overall pension charges. However, the assets and liabilities of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund are shown only in the Grant-in-Aid accounts.
## WEST YORKSHIRE PENSION FUND
We are an admitted member of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund. This fund provides pensions to over 294,000 members in 451 mainly local government organisations. The actuaries of the fund are Aon Hewitt. In the year ending 31 March 2021, eight Arts Council staff participated in the scheme. The scheme is a defined benefit scheme and is accounted for in accordance with Charities SORP (FRS102).
The disclosures below relate to the funded liabilities within the West Yorkshire Pension Fund (the ‘Fund’) which is part of the Local Government Pension Scheme (the ‘LGPS’). The funded nature of the LGPS requires Arts Council England and its employees to pay contributions into the Fund, calculated at a level intended to balance the pension’s liabilities with investment assets.
## **Assumptions**
The latest actuarial valuation of Arts Council England’s liabilities took place as at 31 March 2021. Liabilities have been estimated by the independent qualified actuary on an actuarial basis using the roll-forward approach. The principal assumptions used by the actuary in updating the latest valuation of the Fund for FRS 102 purposes were:
## PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL ASSUMPTIONS
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31 MARCH 31 MARCH 31 MARCH
2021 2020 2019
Discount rate 2.1% 2.3% 2.4%
CPI inflation 2.7% 2.0% 2.2%
Rate of increase to pensions in payment 2.7% 2.0% 2.2%
Rate of increase to deferred pensions 2.7% 2.0% 2.2%
Rate of general increase in salaries 3.95% 3.25% 3.45%
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## ASSET ALLOCATION
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VALUE AT VALUE AT
31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020
% %
Equities 78.9% 77.5%
Property 4.0% 4.5%
Government bonds 9.0% 9.6%
Corporate bonds 4.8% 5.1%
Cash 1.3% 1.9%
Other 2.0% 1.4%
Total 100% 100%
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## RECONCILIATION OF FUNDED STATUS TO BALANCE SHEET
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VALUE AS AT VALUE AS AT VALUE AS AT
31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020 31 MARCH 2019
£millions £millions £millions
Fair value of assets 45.364 36.273 41.401
Present value of funded liabilities 45.868 40.247 43.595
Pension liability recognised on the balance sheet (0.504) (3.974) (2.194)
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## AMOUNTS RECOGNISED IN INCOME STATEMENT
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PERIOD ENDING PERIOD ENDING
31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020
£millions £millions
OPERATING COST:
Current service cost 0.131 0.136
Past service cost – 0.021
FINANCING COST:
Interest on net defined benefit liability/(asset) 0.084 0.081
Pension expense recognised in other comprehensive income 0.215 0.238
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AMOUNTS RECOGNISED IN OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
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PERIOD ENDING PERIOD ENDING
31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020
£millions £millions
Asset gains/(losses) arising during the period* 7.309 (5.117)
Liability gains/(losses) arising during the period (5.916) 3.169
Total amount recognised in other comprehensive income (1.393) (1.948)
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CHANGES TO THE PRESENT VALUE OF THE DEFINED BENEFIT OBLIGATION DURING THE ACCOUNTING PERIOD
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PERIOD ENDING PERIOD ENDING
31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020
£millions £millions
Opening defined benefit obligation 40.247 43.595
Current service cost 0.131 0.136
Past service cost – 0.021
Interest expense on defined benefit obligation 0.910 1.030
Contributions by participants 0.030 0.028
Actuarial (gains)/losses on liabilities 5.916 (3.169)
Net benefits paid out (1.366) (1.394)
Closing defined benefit obligation 45.868 40.247
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## CHANGES TO THE FAIR VALUE OF ASSETS DURING THE ACCOUNTING PERIOD
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PERIOD ENDING PERIOD ENDING
31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020
£millions £millions
Opening fair value of assets 36.273 41.401
Interest income on assets 0.826 0.949
Remeasurement gains/(losses) on assets 7.309 (5.117)
Contributions by the employer* 0.646 0.406
Contributions by participants 0.030 0.028
Net benefits paid out** (1.366) (1.394)
Net increase in assets from disposals/acquisitions 1.646 0.000
Closing fair value of assets 45.364 36.273
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* FOR 2020/21 THIS INCLUDES AN ADDITIONAL £500,000 LUMP SUM DEFICIT REDUCTION PAYMENT INTO THE FUND BY THE EMPLOYER (2019/20: £300,000).
** CONSISTS OF NET BENEFITS CASH FLOW OUT OF THE FUND IN RESPECT OF THE EMPLOYER, INCLUDING AN APPROXIMATE ALLOWANCE FOR THE EXPECTED COST OF DEATH IN SERVICE LUMP SUMS.
*** A PAYMENT OF £1,645,943 WAS RECEIVED FROM STAFFORDSHIRE PENSION FUND IN RELATION TO 13 MEMBERS OF STAFF WHO TRANSFERRED TO ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND FROM THE REGIONAL ARTS BOARD.
## ACTUAL RETURN ON ASSETS
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PERIOD ENDING PERIOD ENDING
31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020
£millions £millions
Interest income of assets 0.826 0.949
Gain/(loss) on assets 7.309 (5.117)
Total amount recognised in other comprehensive income 8.135 (4.168)
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The 2021 valuation results included the transferred liabilities for 49 active members who transferred from the former Arts Boards. At the beginning of the year transfer payments were still outstanding from Surrey (11 members) and Staffordshire (13 members) Pension Funds in relation to their members who had transferred to Arts Council England. In February 2021 a payment of £1,645,943 was received from Staffordshire Pension Fund in relation to the transferred liabilities of their members. Discussions with Surrey Pension Fund are ongoing.
Amounts due to the West Yorkshire Pension Fund at 31 March 2021 were £16,435 (31 March 2020: £nil).
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## ARTS COUNCIL RETIREMENT PLAN (1994)
The scheme is a defined benefit scheme. Other employers contributing to the scheme are the Arts Council of Wales, Creative Scotland, the Crafts Council and Ty Cerdd ^ – Music Centre Wales. Because it is a multiemployer scheme, we are unable to identify our share of the underlying assets and liabilities. Consequently, we have accounted for the scheme as if it were a defined contribution scheme, in accordance with Charities SORP (FRS102). The actuaries of the fund are Hymans Robertson.
The scheme is financed by payments made by Arts Council England and employees, together with those by the other employers and their employees, into a trustee-administered fund independent of Arts Council England’s finances. These contributions are invested by leading fund management companies. The net market value of the scheme’s assets at 31 March 2021 was £213.7 million (2020: £176.9 million).
An actuarial valuation of the pension fund takes place at least every three years. At the last valuation on 31 March 2019, the actuarial value of the assets using the projected unit method was sufficient to cover 89 per cent of the value accrued to members, a deficit of £21,700,000. On the advice of the actuary, with effect from 1 April 2020, we are paying employer’s contributions of 19.9 per cent of pensionable salary for Arts Council England employees and 27.2 per cent of pensionable salary for employees who transferred to Arts Council England from Museums, Libraries and Archives. Arts Council England made a lump sum contribution of £1.8 million to the Plan in February 2021 in lieu of its share of future deficit contributions and as a consequence is no longer required to pay any further contributions towards the deficit.
The main long-term assumptions used for the actuarial valuation were as follows:
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Consumer prices Bank of England RPI
inflation rate curve, less 1.3% pa
Long-term rate of In line with
pay increases CPI inflation
Rate of pension In line with
increases CPI inflation
Bank of England
Discount rate
gilt yield curve,
(past service)
plus 1.25% pa
Discount rate Bank of England gilt
(future service) yield curve, plus 1.60%
**----- End of picture text -----**
Arts Council England is a participating employer in the Arts Council Retirement Plan (1994) together with four other separate organisations. There is no legal separation of the Plan’s assets or liabilities and as such there is a certain amount of inevitable cross subsidy between participating employers depending on the experience of their own members. Under the Plan’s rules there is also no requirement or discretion to segregate the assets of the scheme in event of the cessation of a participating employer. As such it is a ‘last man standing’ arrangement and the remaining employers would become liable for meeting the pension obligations of other participating employers who cease participation.
Amounts due to the fund at 31 March 2021 were £432,674 (31 March 2020: £409,000).
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ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
## THE PEOPLE’S PENSION
If employees do not wish to become members of either of the two Defined Benefit schemes mentioned above, Arts Council England gives people the option of paying into The People’s Pension. This is a Stakeholder Defined Contribution Pension Scheme operated by B&CE and new employees who choose not to join the Arts Council Retirement Plan are automatically enrolled into this scheme instead, in line with the Government’s workplace pension legislation.
The Arts Council Retirement Plan and The People’s Pension are both treated as defined contribution schemes for the purposes of the accounts. Payments to both schemes are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities as and when they fall due. Employer contributions into the Arts Council Retirement Plan during 2020/21 were £5,383,191, including a lump sum deficit reduction payment of £1,803,500 (2019/20: £4,401,703 including lump sum payment of £700,000). Employer contributions to The People’s Pension were £96,587 (2019/20: £100,033).
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## 8. NET EXPENDITURE FOR THE YEAR
Net expenditure of £8,470,061 (2019/20: £547,594) is stated after charging:
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TOTAL TOTAL
2020/21 2019/20
£000s £000s
Auditors' remuneration 80 73
Operating leases 2,119 2,141
Council members' travel, subsistence and hospitality for the 15 serving
6 34
members during the year
Insurance: trustees' and senior officers' indemnity 7 6
Depreciation 692 664
Impairment 10 1,900
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NO FEES WERE PAID TO OUR AUDITORS FOR NON-AUDIT SERVICES. AUDIT FEES ARE INCLUSIVE OF VAT.
## 9. LEGACY BEQUESTS
Arts Council England is the beneficiary of several legacies. The Compton Poetry Fund bequest was made in 1964 and the Thornton Fund bequest was made in 1950. The Compton and Thornton legacies consist of a mixture of stocks/shares and cash: the Compton Poetry Fund consists of £277,000 in shares and £42,000 cash; the Thornton fund consists of £55,000 in shares and £57,000 cash. Both legacies were incorporated into Arts Council England’s accounts during 2013/14; the values of the stocks and cash are disclosed on the balance sheet and the dividends received during the year disclosed within Note 2b (investment income).
During 2018/19, the Arts Council received a bequest from the Estate of Eileen McCann. The value of this was £108,000 and consisted entirely of cash. No conditions were attached to the donation. During the course of 2020/21 the Arts Council received three additional legacies totalling £64,000.
GRANT-IN-AID ACCOUNTS 113
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
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COMPTON THORNTON MCCANN OTHER
POETRY FUND FUND FUND LEGACIES TOTAL
£000s £000s £000s £000s £000s
Opening balance – 1 April 2020 319 112 108 – 539
Income received in-year 3 3 8 64 78
Gains/(losses) on investments 53 13 – – 66
– – – – –
Expenditure
Closing Balance – 31 March 2021 375 128 116 64 683
**----- End of picture text -----**
## 10. HERITAGE ASSETS AND TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
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EQUIPMENT, TOTAL HERITAGE TOTAL
FREEHOLD LAND LEASEHOLD FIXTURES AND TANGIBLE ASSETS: FIXED
AND BUILDINGS IMPROVEMENTS FITTINGS ASSETS WORKS OF ART ASSETS
£000s £000s £000s £000s £000s £000s
Cost or valuation
–
8,738 4,497 13,235 249,943 263,178
at 1 April 2020
Additions – 1,044 89 1,133 347 1,480
Revaluations – – – – 2,648 2,648
– – – – – –
Less: disposals
Cost or valuation
–
9,782 4,586 14,368 252,938 267,306
at 31 March 2021
Depreciation – –
6,526 3,743 10,269 10,269
at 1 April 2020
Less depreciation on disposals – – – – – –
Impairment – – – – 10 10
Provided for 2020/21 – 381 311 692 – 692
Depreciation – 6,907 4,054 10,961 10 10,971
at 31 March 2021
Net book value
– 2,875 532 3,407 252,928 256,335
at 31 March 2021
Net book value
– 2,212 754 2,966 249,943 252,909
at 31 March 2020
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114 GRANT-IN-AID ACCOUNTS
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
## WORKS OF ART – ARTS COUNCIL COLLECTION
Unlike our other fixed assets there is no _de minimis_ capitalisation threshold for Works of Art. All Works of Art are capitalised, even if they are valued at under £2,000.
The Works of Art Collection has been built up since 1946 and consists of 8,033 items at 31 March 2021. The purpose of the Collection is to broaden the appreciation and public awareness of modern and contemporary British art and to encourage good practice relating to painting, sculpture, photography, drawing, printmaking, mixed and new media, film and video. The Collection is based in London and at Longside in Yorkshire (located at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park). The Collection is managed on behalf of Arts Council England by the Southbank Centre through the Hayward Gallery.
## **Valuation**
The Director of the Arts Council Collection has valued the Collection at £252,927,990 at 31 March 2021 (31 March 2020: £249,943,602). Valuation of the Arts Council Collection is undertaken on a rolling programme using current knowledge of prices, the market and, where necessary, the Director seeks the advice of other experts. The policy is that the top 100 most valuable items are valued on an annual basis as are any items that are out on longterm loan and works required for exhibitions. Any works selected for exhibition or loan or for the Arts Council Collection’s touring exhibitions are valued when they go out on loan as this provides the valuation for insurance requirements. A register of works is maintained by the Curator of the Arts Council Collection which is amended to reflect acquisitions and items removed from the register, such as pieces damaged beyond repair, throughout the year and records the year end valuation figure. The register supports the entries in the Arts Council’s annual accounts and is provided to the auditors for review.
## **Acquisition and disposal policy**
The Arts Council Collection purchases innovative work by artists living in Britain with
a focus on the work of younger and emerging artists. Acquisitions are made through the Acquisitions Committee comprising six individuals who are the Director, Arts Council Collection, Director Visual Arts, Arts Council England, Director, Hayward Gallery, plus external advisers who are usually an artist, a writer and a curator. The committee is currently chaired by a member of the Arts Council’s National Council. The external advisors to the committee are appointed for a fixed two-year tenure. Additionally, a representative from each of the Arts Council Collection’s National Partner galleries sits for one year on a rotating basis. Artists may apply to have their work considered for acquisition. Otherwise works are acquired through the recommendations of the committee members. To be eligible artists must live in Britain (or their work must demonstrate a relevance to British contemporary art practice), cannot be students, and have to be able to demonstrate their commitment over several years by providing information about the exhibitions of their work that have taken place and are planned. The acquisitions are funded from an allocation within the Arts Council England Capital budget.
Any offers of gifts to the Arts Council Collection are brought to the attention of the Acquisitions Committee which decides on their suitability. The procedure for the loss or destruction of works of art is implemented if an item is irretrievably lost or damaged beyond repair. This requires the Director of the Arts Council Collection to report details to the Director of the Hayward Gallery (in cases of vandalism or theft), and the Director, Visual Arts, Arts Council England, who then seeks approval from the Arts Council England National Council to write off the item. The write-off in accounting records is implemented by the Director of Finance, Arts Council England, who takes into account any insurance claims. Funds claimed in this way are paid into the Arts Council Collection acquisition allocation and earmarked to replace the lost items depending on the advice of the current purchasers. If it is not possible to replace a work because the artist is deceased, there are
GRANT-IN-AID ACCOUNTS 115
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
no suitable replacements or equivalent works have become too expensive, the funds are transferred into the acquisition fund.
## **Preservation**
The condition of the works is checked on The condition of the works is checked on receipt, before going out on loan and on return from loan. Master condition files are maintained and kept at Winchester House and Longside (for sculpture) and copies of the latest version are made when loans go out. Normally, required restoration is carried out by fully accredited conservators, either at their studios or at Longside or Winchester House. Any unfitting of frames or restoration carried out away from Winchester House or Longside must be authorised by the Director of the Arts Council Collection or a Collection Curator. Artists are consulted and involved in restoration when possible and practical. Each year a number of works on paper, photographs, paintings and sculpture are conserved as a matter of course. All conservation is reported annually to the Arts Council England National Council in the form of the Collection’s annual report on activities.
## **Collection management**
The Director of the Arts Council Collection reports to the Director of the Hayward Gallery on day-to-day matters and is responsible to the Director, Visual Arts, at Arts Council England on policy. Arts Council Collection staff salaries are paid by the Southbank Centre from the collection management grant from Arts Council England to the Southbank Centre as part of the Hayward Gallery budget. A ring-fenced fund within the Southbank Centre and Arts Council England covers the operational costs of the Arts Council Collection’s activities.
## **Access**
Public access to the works of art is achieved through collaboration and a broad range of programming that includes Arts Council Collection touring exhibitions, the National Partners Programme and an extensive lending programme of artwork that is lent to institutions and galleries, both at home and
abroad. It also lends work to public institutions such as universities, libraries, hospitals and schools, alongside Arts Council Collection digital and communications engagement on its website and via social media such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
## PARTNERSHIPS
The National Partners Programme, launched in 2016, is a three-year programme which enables three galleries in England to curate exhibitions drawn directly from the Arts Council Collection. Some of these exhibitions are organised between the partners to encourage collaborative working and sharing of resources. The National Partners Programme is accessed via application and open to all areas with the exception of London. The National Partners Programme is supported by outreach and digital activities with the specific target aims of engaging children and young people, people from Black, Asian and Ethnically Diverse backgrounds, people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and the over-75s. The four regional partners for 2016-19 were Birmingham Museums Trust, The Towner, Eastbourne, Walker Art Gallery Liverpool, and Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The partners for 201922 are Firstsite, Colchester, Newlyn Art Gallery and the Exchange, Penzance and Sunderland Culture.
The Arts Council Collection collaborates with University of the Arts London’s Decolonising the Art Institute in understanding legacies embedded in collections, through: collection languages, narratives, acquisition histories and questions of care; the collections curatorial research programme; and the proposed AHRCfunded project Transforming Collections: ReImaging Art, Nation and Heritage. The Arts Council Collection previously participated in the ‘Black Artists and Modernism’ research led by artist Sonya Boyce. Of the 11 collections which were included in the research, the Arts Council Collection held the highest representation of works by Black, Asian and Ethnically Diverse artists (252 artworks by 94 artists).
116 GRANT-IN-AID ACCOUNTS
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
The Arts Council Works of Art Collection heritage assets are reported at valuation in the table below:
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2020/21 2019/20 2018/19 2017/18 2016/17
£000s £000s £000s £000s £000s
Cost or valuation at 1 April 249,943 241,012 169,121 163,388 156,195
Additions 267 238 301 358 628
Donations 80 64 47 – 127
Revaluations 2,648 10,529 72,095 5,375 6,438
Less: impairment (10) (1,900) (524) – –
Less: disposal – – (28) – –
Cost or valuation at 31 March 252,928 249,943 241,012 169,121 163,388
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## 11. COSTS APPORTIONED TO ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNTS
Directions issued by the Secretary of State require that costs incurred which relate to both Grant-in-Aid and Lottery activities should be apportioned between the two in accordance with good accounting practice. We have recharged both pay and non-pay expenditure between Grant-in-Aid and Lottery using staff time as a basis for calculating the apportionment. As at 31st March 2021, £1,488,000 was owed by Lottery to Grant-in-Aid (2019/20: £3,042,000)
## 12. DEBTORS
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31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020
£000s £000s
Trade debtors 2,622 115
DCMS debtors 283,936 101,675
Other debtors 371 156
Prepayments and accrued income 1,122 1,406
288,051 103,352
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ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
## 13. GRANTS PAID IN ADVANCE
The Arts Council permits organisations to draw down cash from a future year’s funding agreement to cover short-term cash flow requirements. Payments totalling £1,127,748 were made during 2020/21 (2019/20: £5,554,581).
## 14. GRANT OFFERS – FUTURE YEARS
The Arts Council has entered into four-year funding agreements with 829 National Portfolio Organisations commencing in 2018/19. Commitments are recognised for each year, with the funding agreements making clear that continued funding is dependent on Grant-in-Aid being available to Arts Council England in those future years and that the organisation continues to deliver its agreed programme of activity as set out in the funding agreement. Forward funding at 31 March 2021 mainly represents allocations for National Portfolio Organisations and Music Education Hubs and the figures disclosed are the cash value; they have not been discounted to present value.
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FORWARD FUNDING: 31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020
£000s £000s
–
2020/21 412,127
2021/22 417,182 337,420
417,182 749,547
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118 GRANT-IN-AID ACCOUNTS
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
## 15 CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR
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FORWARD FUNDING: 31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020
£000s £000s
Trade creditors 3,598 2,712
Other creditors including taxes and social security 519 17
Accruals 1,942 1,107
Deferred income 727 805
6,786 4,642
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## 16. PROVISIONS FOR LIABILITIES AND CHARGES
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PENSION
DILAPIDATIONS TAX EMPLOYMENT DEFICIT TOTAL
£000s £000s £000s £000s £000s
At 31 March 2020 965 4 50 2,069 3,088
Arising during the year 99 6 – – 105
Used during the year – (3) (45) (2,054) (2,102)
Reversed unused (5) – (5) (15) (25)
At 31 March 2021 1,059 7 – – 1,066
EXPECTED TIMING OF CASH FLOWS
Provisions due within
– 7 – – 7
one year
Provisions due in more
1,059 – – – 1,059
than one year
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## DESCRIPTION OF PROVISIONS
## **a)** _Dilapidations_
Provision for dilapidations for leased premises (to cover the costs of any necessary reinstatement and repairs to the property at the termination of the lease).
## **c)** _Employment_
Provision for estimated staff redundancy costs.
## **d)** _Pension deficit_
Provision for ACRP Pension scheme deficit contributions.
## **b)** _Tax_
Provision for payroll taxes owed to HMRC for any expenses and benefits paid to employees where tax has not been deducted at source.
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ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
## 17. RECONCILIATION OF MOVEMENT IN FUNDS
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AT 31 MARCH GAINS AND AT 31 MARCH
2020 INCOME EXPENDITURE LOSSES TRANSFERS 2021
£000s £000s £000s £000s £000s £000s
Endowment funds 539 78 – 65 – 682
Restricted funds 651 868,491 (868,414) – – 728
Unrestricted income funds 11,846 380,824 (389,641) (2,077) (651) 301
CAPITAL FUNDS
Designated funds 8,178 267 – (11) – 8,434
Revaluation reserve 236,296 – – 2,643 – 238,939
Donated asset reserve 5,471 80 – 5 – 5,556
Capital reserve 2,967 1,270 (1,480) – 651 3,408
Pension reserve (3,974) – – 3,470 – (504)
261,974 1,251,010 (1,259,535) 4,095 – 257,544
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## DESCRIPTION OF FUNDS
## **Endowment funds**
Arts Council England is the beneficiary of various legacies including the Compton Poetry Fund, the McCann Fund, and the Thornton Fund.
## **Restricted funds**
The Arts Council receives specific ring-fenced Grant-in-Aid as well as grants, sponsorship and donations from various other sources for specific activities. Any such income and associated expenditure is identified separately.
## **Unrestricted income funds**
Grant-in-Aid is received from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. This is the Arts Council’s main source of income and is supplemented by other income. This fund is applied to grants expenditure and the running costs of the Arts Council. Use of these funds in subsequent years is restricted by the Government’s budgetary controls.
## **Capital funds**
## **a)** _Designated funds_
This fund relates to capital expenditure on works of art allocated from the unrestricted fund.
## **b)** _Revaluation reserve_
This fund shows the difference between the original purchase cost (which is shown within Designated Funds above) and the current market value of the Arts Council Collection.
## **c)** _Donated asset reserve_
This fund relates mainly to donations received by the Arts Council for obtaining Works of Art for our Collection.
## **d)** _Capital reserve_
The capital reserve represents the balance of tangible assets.
## **e)** _Pension reserve_
The pension reserve reflects the movements in the West Yorkshire Pension Fund defined benefit scheme.
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ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
## 18. CASH FLOW RECONCILIATION
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RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME TO 2020/2021 2019/2020
NET CASH INFLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES £000s £000s
Net income/(expenditure) (8,471) (550)
Interest receivable – (136)
(Profit)/Loss on disposal of Fixed Assets – –
Dividends received (6) (13)
Depreciation and impairment charges 693 664
Revaluation of (gains)/losses on fixed assets – –
Actuarial (gains)/losses on defined benefit pension schemes – –
(Gains)/losses on investments (55) 70
Decrease/(increase) in debtors and prepayments (183,146) (60,015)
Decrease/(increase) in grants paid in advance 4,427 (4,651)
Increase/(decrease) in grants outstanding 363,913 (16,114)
(Decrease)/increase in creditors 2,144 609
(Decrease)/increase in provisions (2,023) 2,218
(Decrease)/Increase in defined benefit liability (2,078) (168)
Net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities 175,399 (78,086)
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## 19. RECONCILIATION OF NET CASH FLOW TO MOVEMENT IN CASH
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2020/2021 2019/2020
£000s £000s
(Decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents in the year 173,847 (78,875)
Cash at 1 April 2019 14,389 93,264
Cash at 31 March 2021 188,236 14,389
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ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
## 20. ANALYSIS OF NET CASH
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1 APRIL 2020 CASH FLOW 31 MARCH 2021
£000s £000s £000s
Cash in hand 14,389 173,847 188,236
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## 21. LEASES
At 31 March 2021 the Arts Council had annual commitments under non-cancellable operating leases as set out below.
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LAND AND BUILDINGS 31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020
OPERATING LEASES WHICH EXPIRE: £000s £000s
within one year 1,774 1,711
within two and five years inclusive 2,728 3,995
over five years 265 379
4,767 6,085
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THE LEASES RELATE PRIMARILY TO THE NINE OFFICES THAT ARE OCCUPIED BY ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND.
## 22. SOUTHBANK CENTRE LEASE
The Arts Council owns the freeholds of the National Film Theatre, the Museum of the Moving Image, the Hayward Gallery, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Purcell Room and the Royal Festival Hall, which are leased to the Southbank Centre. Since the lease is long term and we derive no income from the freeholding, the value of the asset is immaterial and has therefore not been included in these accounts.
## 23. ROYAL NATIONAL THEATRE LEASE
The Arts Council owns the freehold of the Royal National Theatre, which is leased to and occupied by the Royal National Theatre Board Limited. Since the lease is long term and we derive no income from the freeholding, the value of the asset is immaterial and has therefore not been included in these accounts.
## 24. CAPITAL COMMITMENTS
As at 31 March 2021 the total value of capital commitments was £nil (2019/20: £nil).
122 GRANT-IN-AID ACCOUNTS
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
## 25. LOSSES AND SPECIAL PAYMENTS
Losses can be cash losses, losses arising from theft, or fruitless payments. Special payments are payments which would not normally be made in the course of business. Examples of such payments are lease exit payments, compensations payments or ex-gratia payments. No losses were incurred and no special payments were made during 2020/21.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2020/2021 2019/2020
£000s £000s
Total value of losses – 2
Total number of losses – 2
**----- End of picture text -----**
## 26. FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS
FRS102 has a concept of basic financial instruments (such as cash, trade debtors, trade creditors) and other financial instruments (such as interest rate swaps and forward foreign currency contracts). All Arts Council England’s financial instruments are categorised as basic. As the cash requirements of the Arts Council are met largely through Grant-in-Aid received from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (99.76 per cent) (2019/20: 99.79 per cent), financial instruments play a more limited role in creating risk than would apply to a nonpublic sector body of a similar size. The majority of financial instruments relate to contracts to buy non-financial items in line with the Arts Council’s expected purchase and usages requirements, or the issue of grants (98.6 per cent) (2019/20: 96.3 per cent). This means the Arts Council is exposed to little credit, liquidity or market risk.
Arts Council England is the beneficiary of various legacies: the three main ones are the Compton Poetry Fund, the Thornton Fund, and the McCann Fund. The total value of all legacies is £683,000 and is held in a mixture of cash and stock market investments. Details of all legacies are disclosed in Note 9.
## 26a. LIQUIDITY RISK
The Arts Council signed a new management agreement with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in 2018.
In the past 12 months, 0.24 per cent of funding was received from sources other than DCMS. This meant that 99.76 per cent of funding was sourced through cash drawn down and agreed monthly with the DCMS, based on the predicted need for the month ahead.
## 26b. INTEREST RATE RISK
As an Arms-Length Body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, our bank accounts are with the Government Banking Service, which is operated by RBS NatWest. This means that surplus daily cash balances are offset against overall Government debt by HM Treasury, thereby reducing the amount of interest which is paid by the Government. However, this means that no credit interest is received Arts Council England.
## 26c. FOREIGN CURRENCY RISK
Our exposure to foreign currency risk is not significant as less than 1 per cent of transactions by value are processed in currencies other than sterling.
GRANT-IN-AID ACCOUNTS 123
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
## 26d. FINANCIAL ASSETS BY CATEGORY
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31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020
£000s £000s
DCMS debtor 283,935 101,675
Trade debtors 2,622 115
Other debtors 372 156
Accrued income 1,122 1,406
Due from Arts Council Lottery accounts 1,488 3,042
Cash at bank and in hand 188,236 14,497
477,775 120,891
**----- End of picture text -----**
In our view the book value of the assets is the same as the fair value.
## 26e. FINANCIAL LIABILITIES BY CATEGORY
**----- Start of picture text -----**
31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020
£000s £000s
Grants outstanding 470,021 106,107
Trade creditors 3,598 2,712
Other creditors including taxes and social security 519 17
Accruals 1,942 1,107
Deferred income 727 805
476,807 110,748
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INCLUDED WITHIN THE FINANCIAL LIABILITIES ARE AMOUNTS SUCH AS GRANTS OUTSTANDING, TAX AND NATIONAL INSURANCE, AND DEFERRED INCOME. WHILE THESE LIABILITIES ARE NOT CONTRACTUAL, THEY HAVE BEEN DISCLOSED ABOVE IN THE INTERESTS OF COMPLETENESS.
## 27. RELATED PARTIES
## 27a. COUNCIL MEMBERS
We maintain publicly available registers in which council members declare their interests, including any direct interests, in grant
applications made to, and commercial relationships with, the Arts Council. The declared interests in grant recipients along with amounts awarded for the year ended 31 March 2021 are detailed in the following table.
124 GRANT-IN-AID ACCOUNTS
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
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GRANTS
FOR THE
YEAR BALANCE
ENDED UNPAID AS AT
31 MARCH 31 MARCH
2021 2021
COUNCIL MEMBER £000s £000s ORGANISATION RELATIONSHIP TYPE
Sir Nicholas Serota CH Cornubian Arts and Partner is a Chair of the
371 146
Science Trust (CAST) Trust
123 – Intoart Tate Exchange organisation
Partner is an Advisory
250 250 Kneehigh Theatre Trust
Committee member
15 15 Ligeti Quartet Niece is a manager
118 8 NMC Recordings Ltd. Sister is a trustee
Andrew Miller MBE – Royal Shakespeare
15,290 Other/Governor
Company
185 46 TheSpace C.I.C. Board Member
45 45 Arts Council Wales Board Member
342 167 Corby Cube Theatre Trust Executive associate
Coventry City of Culture
5,900 4,500 Advisor/consultant
Trust
Northampton Theatres
3,410 1,288 Executive associate
Trust
412 52 Shape London Advisor/consultant
102 – Tete a Tete Advisor/consultant
169 – Unlimited Theatre Advisor/consultant
Catherine Mallyon 15,290 – Royal Shakespeare Executive Director
Company (remunerated) and Board
City of Birmingham
1,323 763 Partner is a Board Member
Symphony Orchestra
Creative Industries
200 20 Board Member
Federation
185 68 Orchestra of the Swan Advisory Council Member
Shakespeare Birthplace
3,271 305 Advisory Council Member
Trust
Board Member (not
198 198 Watermill Theatre
remunerated)
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GRANT-IN-AID ACCOUNTS 125
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
**----- Start of picture text -----**
GRANTS
FOR THE
YEAR BALANCE
ENDED UNPAID AS AT
31 MARCH 31 MARCH
2021 2021
COUNCIL MEMBER £000s £000s ORGANISATION RELATIONSHIP TYPE
Ciara Eastell 175 – Libraries Unlimited South Trustee and CEO
West (remunerated)
24 24 Double Elephant CIC Partner is a director
David Joseph 29 – Julie’s Bicycle Director/Trustee
163 163 Arnolfini Gallery Freelands Foundation,
Elisabeth Murdoch
of whom Elisabeth is
founder and Chair, funded
this Organisation
45 45 Arts Council of Wales Freelands Foundation
Organisation
3,221 – Baltic Flour Mills Visual Freelands Foundation
Arts Trust Organisation
1,172 130 Camden Arts Centre Freelands Foundation
Organisation
309 62 Create London Freelands Foundation
Organisation
1,571 743 Firstsite Ltd Freelands Foundation
Organisation
1,265 213 Ikon Gallery Freelands Foundation
Organisation
233 – Institute of International Freelands Foundation
Visual Arts Organisation
613 – John Hansard Gallery Freelands Foundation
Organisation
296 – Kettle’s Yard Freelands Foundation
Organisation
11 – Manchester Freelands Foundation
Metropolitan University Organisation
765 150 MK Gallery Freelands Foundation
Organisation
1,045 54 Modern Art Oxford Freelands Foundation
Organisation
1,352 160 Nottingham Freelands Foundation
Contemporary Organisation
1,266 501 Somerset House Trust Freelands Foundation
Organisation
1,407 232 South London Gallery Freelands Foundation
Organisation
250 85 Spike Island Art Space Freelands Foundation
Ltd Organisation
868 – The Artangel Trust Freelands Foundation
Organisation
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126 GRANT-IN-AID ACCOUNTS
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
**----- Start of picture text -----**
GRANTS
FOR THE
YEAR BALANCE
ENDED UNPAID AS AT
31 MARCH 31 MARCH
2021 2021
COUNCIL MEMBER £000s £000s ORGANISATION RELATIONSHIP TYPE
756 371 The Whitworth, Freelands Foundation
Elisabeth Murdoch
University of Manchester Organisation
(continued)
918 425 Towner Art Gallery Freelands Foundation
Organisation
786 10 Turner Contemporary Freelands Foundation
Organisation
2,141 402 Yorkshire Sculpture Freelands Foundation
Park Organisation
517 – a-n The Artists Freelands Foundation
Information Company Organisation
97 1 Open School East Freelands Foundation
Organisation
432 11 Site Gallery Freelands Foundation
Organisation
220 88 The Hepworth Freelands Foundation
Wakefield Trust Organisation
869 – New Art Exchange Ltd Freelands Foundation
Organisation
174 – Yorkshire Sculpture Freelands Foundation
Park Organisation
923 – The Hepworth Freelands Foundation
Wakefield Trust Organisation
Helen Birchenough 1,964 260 Wiltshire Creative Board Member
Kate Willard 850 – Equity Charitable Trust Member
South East Local Chair of Opportunity
20 10
Enterprise Partnership South Essex
Michael Eakin Royal Liverpool
3,817 875 Director – remunerated
Philharmonic
Paul Roberts A New Direction London Advisor/Consultant –
116 18
Limited Not remunerated
Nottingham Board Member –
1,352 160
Contemporary Not remunerated
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GRANT-IN-AID ACCOUNTS 127
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GRANTS
FOR THE
YEAR BALANCE
ENDED UNPAID AS AT
31 MARCH 31 MARCH
2021 2021
COUNCIL MEMBER £000s £000s ORGANISATION RELATIONSHIP TYPE
Professor Roni Brown Affiliated through employer:
Turner Contemporary
786 10 Turner Contemporary
and UCA have a financial
agreement for services
112 – Artswork Board Member
Affiliated through employer:
Turner Contemporary
645 24 Creative Foundation
and UCA have a financial
agreement for services
Farnham Maltings
302 118 Partner is a director
Association
Pro Vice-Chancellor and
University of the Arts Head of College, London
249 50
London College of Fashion
(remunerated)
Ruth Mackenzie CBE 343 48 Improbable Board Member
3,125 1,909 Serpentine Galleries Board Member
Sukhy Johal MBE 271 228 The University of Lincoln Employee
869 – New Art Exchange Ltd. Board Member
199 45 Threshold Studios Partner is a Project Director
Tessa Ross CBE Creative Industries
200 20 Board Member
Federation
Donmar Warehouse
1,380 630 Trustee
Projects Ltd
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128 GRANT-IN-AID ACCOUNTS
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
The declared interests in grant recipients along with amounts awarded for the year ended 31 March 2020 are detailed below.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
GRANTS
FOR THE
YEAR BALANCE
ENDED UNPAID AS AT
31 MARCH 31 MARCH
2020 2020
COUNCIL MEMBER £000s £000s ORGANISATION RELATIONSHIP TYPE
Sir Nicholas Serota CH 529 107 Britten Sinfonia Sister is a trustee
40 – NMC Recordings Ltd. Sister is a donor
Andrew Miller MBE – 102 TheSpace C.I.C. Board Member
Catherine Mallyon – 198 City of Birmingham Partner is a Board Member
Symphony Orchestra
Royal Shakespeare Executive Director and
15,274 150
Company Board Member
267 – Shakespeare Birthplace Advisory Council Member
Trust
Elisabeth Murdoch Freelands Foundation, of
whom Elisabeth is founder
920 – Camden Arts Centre
and Chair, funded this
organisation
Freelands Foundation
815 2 Firstsite Ltd
Organisation
Freelands Foundation
602 150 John Hansard Gallery
Organisation
Freelands Foundation
291 4 Kettle’s Yard
Organisation
Freelands Foundation
393 1 MK Gallery
Organisation
Nottingham Freelands Foundation
1,066 30
Contemporary Organisation
Freelands Foundation
90 – Open School East
Organisation
Freelands Foundation
314 – Site Gallery
Organisation
Freelands Foundation
811 – South London Gallery
Organisation
Freelands Foundation
50 25 Spike Island Artspace Ltd
Organisation
Freelands Foundation
1,313 174 Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Organisation
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GRANT-IN-AID ACCOUNTS 129
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
**----- Start of picture text -----**
GRANTS
FOR THE
YEAR BALANCE
ENDED UNPAID AS AT
31 MARCH 31 MARCH
2020 2020
COUNCIL MEMBER £000s £000s ORGANISATION RELATIONSHIP TYPE
Helen Birchenough – 5 Salisbury Arts Theatre Ltd Board Member
1,278 – Wiltshire Creative Board Member
Michael Eakin Royal Liverpool
2,382 15 Employed as a Director
Philharmonic
Roni Brown The Place is an NPO and
– Contemporary Dance there is a proposal for
1,794
Trust partnership between UAL
and The Place
Creative Foundation and
400 – Creative Foundation UCA have a financial
agreement for services
Farnham Maltings
37 4 Partner is Chief Executive
Assocation
Arts Council funded
228 – Institute of International organisation that is hosted
Visual Arts at University of the Arts
London
University of the Arts UAL research centre, funded
71 35
London – Afterall by ACE
Ruth Mackenzie CBE 1,194 – Serpentine Galleries Board Member
Sukhy Johal MBE Lincoln One Venues (Youth
Music funds and receives
247 – Lincoln Arts Trust Limited
element of NPO funds via
drill hall)
80 – Threshold Studios Partner is an employee and
Project Director
Tessa Ross CBE 505 – Donmar Warehouse Trustee
Projects Ltd
Paul Roberts OBE Nottingham
1,066 30 Board Member
Contemporary
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ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
## 27b. DIRECTORS AND SENIOR MANAGERS
Executive directors and senior managers in Arts Council England are also required to declare any direct interests in grant applications made to, and commercial relationships with, the Arts Council. The declared interests in grant recipients along with amounts awarded for the year ended 31 March 2021 are detailed below.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
GRANTS
FOR THE
YEAR BALANCE
ENDED UNPAID AS AT
31 MARCH 31 MARCH
DIRECTOR OR 2021 2021
SENIOR MANAGER £000s £000s ORGANISATION RELATIONSHIP TYPE
Darren Henley 200 20 Creative Industries Vice-chair and member of
Federation Advisory Group
Cultural Institute, Unpaid member of Advisory
15 15
University of Leeds Group
Elisabeth Bushell 2,207 1,374 Bletchley Park Trust Board Member
Peter Knott Partner is paid Chair of
764 3 One Dance UK
Young People panel
3,270 466 Leicester Theatre Trust Partner is Head of Learning
Phillip Gibby 25 25 RISE Youth Dance Partner is advisor/consultant
159 5 Theatre Bristol Ltd Partner is employee
128 52 Trigger Partner is advisor/consultant
6 – University of Bath Member of Court
Simon Mellor Part-time Project Director of
21,038 21,008 Manchester City Council
the Factory
International Federation of Board Member and
53 –
the Arts Treasurer of the IFACCA
Mags Patten 28 – The Stage Media Part of the steering group
Company Ltd
– 2 The Clore Leadership Part of the steering group
Programme
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The declared interests in grant recipients along with amounts awarded for the year ended 31 March 2020 are detailed below.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
GRANT FOR
THE YEAR BALANCE
ENDED UNPAID AS AT
31 MARCH 31 MARCH
DIRECTOR OR 2020 2020
SENIOR MANAGER £000s £000s ORGANISATION RELATIONSHIP TYPE
Peter Knott 750 3 One Dance UK Partner is an employee
1,914 – Leicester Theatre Trust Partner is an employee
**----- End of picture text -----**
The declared interests of National Council members and Executive Board are available at the following link:
## **www.artscouncil.org.uk/national-council/national-council-register-interests**
## 27c. OTHER GOVERNMENT BODIES
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is the sponsoring department for Arts Council England and is regarded as a related party. At the year end, Arts Council England had the following balances outstanding with other Government bodies:
**----- Start of picture text -----**
CREDITOR DEBTOR CREDITOR DEBTOR
31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020 31 MARCH 2020
£000s £000s £000s £000s
Balances with other DCMS
3,580 284,089 5,325 101,675
Government bodies
Balances with other central
701 – 522 –
Government bodies
Balances with academies 807 47 477 40
Balances with local authorities 99,638 7 119,189 18
Balances with NHS Trusts 3 – – –
Balances with public corporations and 135 – 151 –
trading funds
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During 2020/21, Arts Council England had the following transactions with other Government bodies:
**----- Start of picture text -----**
EXPENDITURE INCOME EXPENDITURE INCOME
Y/E 31 MARCH 2021 Y/E 31 MARCH 2021 Y/E 31 MARCH 2020 Y/E 31 MARCH 2020
£000s £000s £000s £000s
Transactions with other DCMS
4,932 1,051,375 1,724 492,156
Government bodies
Transactions with other central
8,136 305 5,952 207
Government bodies
Transactions with academies 1,761 117 390 196
Transactions with local authorities 130,299 31 77,881 274
Transactions with NHS Trusts – – – –
Transactions with public corporations 52 – 90 –
and trading funds
**----- End of picture text -----**
The Arts Council Retirement Plan and the West Yorkshire Pension Fund are both considered as related parties to Arts Council England.
## 28. RECONCILIATION OF OPERATING SURPLUS TO DEPARTMENTAL EXPENDITURE LIMIT
The Government budget that is allocated to and spent by Government departments is known as the departmental expenditure limit, or DEL. The Arts Council is not allowed to exceed its annual DEL budget. Due to differing accounting
treatments there are certain transactions which are included in these accounts but which do not have an impact on our DEL budget. The Arts Council has a reported deficit of £4,430,000 but our overall DEL underspend for the year was £333,000 and the table below shows a reconciliation of the two amounts.
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**----- Start of picture text -----**
£000s
AT 31 MARCH 2021
Overspend/(Underspend as per SOFA) 4,430
EXCLUDE NON-DEL TRANSACTIONS
Revaluation on Heritage Assets 2,648
FRS17 (Deficit)/Surplus 3,470
Gain on investments 55
Depreciation (692)
Capital expenditure 1,400
Provisions adjustments 1,000
Legacy income 6
Donations 150
–
Legacy expenditure
Use of reserves (12,800)
DEL Underspend (excluding Depreciation) (333)
REPRESENTED BY :
RDEL underspend (281)
CDEL underspend (52)
(333)
**----- End of picture text -----**
## 29. CONTINGENT LIABILITIES
As at 31 March 2021, Arts Council England had no contingent liabilities.
## 30. POST BALANCE SHEET EVENTS
In accordance with the requirements of Charities SORP (FRS102), events after the balance sheet date, post balance sheet events, are considered up to the date on which the accounts are authorised for issue. This is interpreted as the date of the independent auditor’s report to the Trustees of Arts Council England.
There were no post balance sheet events between the year end and when the accounts were authorised for issue on the date the Comptroller and Auditor General certified the accounts. The financial accounts do not reflect events after this date.
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## 31 STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES – PRIOR YEAR COMPARATORS
**----- Start of picture text -----**
UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED ENDOWMENT TOTAL UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED ENDOWMENT TOTAL
FUNDS FUNDS FUNDS 2020/21 FUNDS FUNDS FUNDS 2019/20
£000s £000s £000s £000s £000s £000s £000s £000s
INCOME AND
ENDOWMENTS FROM:
Donations and legacies 364,422 866,131 72 1,230,625 363,538 128,595 – 492,133
Investments – – 6 6 136 – 13 149
Charitable activities 513 2,440 – 2,953 308 428 – 736
Other: Lottery 17,425 – – 17,425 18,821 – – 18,821
distribution accounts
Total income and
382,360 868,571 78 1,251,009 382,803 129,023 13 511,839
endowments
EXPENDITURE ON:
Charitable activities
(including Governance 373,696 868,414 – 1,242,110 364,557 128,940 – 493,497
costs)
Other: Support costs
attributable to Lottery 17,425 – – 17,425 18,821 – – 18,821
distributions accounts
Total expenditure 391,121 868,414 – 1,259,535 383,378 128,940 – 512,318
Net gains/(losses) on (10) – 65 55 – – (70) (70)
investments
Total income/
(expenditure) before (8,771) 157 143 (8,471) (575) 83 (57) (549)
exceptional items
OTHER RECOGNISED GAINS/LOSSES
Gain on revaluation of
2,643 5 – 2,648 8,608 21 – 8,629
heritage assets
Actuarial gains/(losses)
on defined benefit 1,393 – – 1,393 (1,948) – – (1,948)
pension schemes
Net movement in
(4,735) 162 143 (4,430) 6,085 104 (57) 6,131
funds
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS:
Balance brought
255,312 6,123 539 261,974 249,227 6,019 597 255,843
forward at 1 April
Total funds carried
250,577 6,285 682 257,544 255,313 6,123 539 261,974
forward at 31 March
**----- End of picture text -----**
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## 32. BALANCE SHEET – PRIOR YEAR COMPARATORS
**----- Start of picture text -----**
TOTAL TOTAL
UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED ENDOWMENT 31 MARCH UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED ENDOWMENT 31 MARCH
FUNDS FUNDS FUNDS 2021 FUNDS FUNDS FUNDS 2020
£000s £000s £000s £000s £000s £000s £000s £000s
FIXED ASSETS:
Tangible assets 3,407 – – 3,407 2,967 – – 2,967
Heritage assets – 247,372 5,556 – 252,928 244,473 5,471 – 249,944
Works of art
Investments 683 683 539 539
Total fixed assets 250,779 5,556 683 257,018 247,440 5,471 539 253,450
CURRENT ASSETS
Debtors – 288,051 – 288,051 14,020 89,331 – 103,351
Due from Arts Council – 1,488 – 1,488 – 3,042 – 3,042
Lottery accounts
Grants paid in advance 1,128 – – 1,128 5,555 – – 5,555
Cash and cash 18,131 170,105 – 188,236 10,948 3,441 – 14,389
equivalents
Total current assets 19,259 459,644 – 478,903 30,523 95,814 – 126,337
LIABILITIES
CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR
Grants outstanding 13,466 456,555 – 470,021 11,836 94,271 – 106,107
Due to Arts Council Lottery accounts – – – – – – – –
Creditors 4,425 2,361 – 6,786 3,751 891 – 4,642
Total creditors:
amounts falling due 17,891 458,916 – 476,807 15,587 95,162 – 110,749
within one year
Net current assets 1,368 728 – 2,096 14,936 652 – 15,588
Total assets less
252,147 6,284 683 259,114 262,376 6,123 539 269,038
current liabilities
CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE AFTER MORE THAN ONE YEAR
Provisions for liabilities 1,066 – – 1,066 3,089 – – 3,089
and charges
Net assets excluding
251,081 6,284 683 258,048 259,287 6,123 539 265,949
pension liability
Defined benefit pension 504 – – 504 3,975 – – 3,975
scheme liability
Net assets including
250,577 6,284 683 257,544 255,312 6,123 539 261,974
pension liability
THE FUNDS OF THE CHARITY:
REPRESENTED BY INCOME FUNDS
Unrestricted fund 301 – – 301 11,846 – – 11,846
Restricted fund – 728 – 728 – 652 – 652
REPRESENTED BY CAPITAL FUNDS
Endowment funds – – 683 683 – – 539 539
Designated fund 247,373 – – 247,373 244,473 – – 244,473
Donated asset reserve – 5,556 – 5,556 – 5,471 – 5,471
Capital reserve 3,407 – – 3,407 2,967 – – 2,967
Pension reserve (504) – – (504) (3,974) – – (3,974)
Total charity funds 250,577 6,284 683 257,544 255,312 6,123 539 261,974
**----- End of picture text -----**
CHARITIES SORP (FRS102) REQUIRES PRIOR COMPARATIVE FIGURES TO BE SHOWN FOR EACH TYPE OF FUND FOR THE BALANCE SHEET AS WELL AS THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES. THIS NOTE DISCLOSES THE PRIOR YEAR COMPARATIVE FIGURES FOR ALL THREE TYPES OF FUNDS.
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## 33. CULTURE RECOVERY FUND – REPAYABLE FINANCE
The Culture Recovery Fund (Repayable Finance) programme is part of the Government’s £1.57 billion package to protect the UK’s culture and heritage sectors from the economic impacts of Covid-19. It was intended to offer financial support for culturally significant organisations that were financially sustainable before Covid-19, but were subsequently at risk of no longer trading viably by 31 March 2021. The
programme consists of DCMS loans totalling £250m to 36 organisations, which are repayable over a period of up to 20 years.
As the loans were made on behalf of DCMS they are not included in the accounts for Arts Council England. However the £2.3m income received by Arts Council England for administering the loans is included within Note 3.
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# 09. Lottery distribution accounts
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
## THE CERTIFICATE AND REPORT OF THE COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL TO THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT
## OPINION ON FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
I certify that I have audited the financial statements of Arts Council England’s Lottery Distribution Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021 under the National Lottery etc Act 1993. The financial statements comprise: Statements of Comprehensive Net Income, Financial Position, Cash Flows, Changes in Taxpayers’ Equity; and the related notes, including the significant accounting policies. These financial statements have been prepared under the accounting policies set out within them. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as interpreted by HM Treasury’s Government Reporting Manual.
I have also audited the information in the Remuneration Report that is described in that report as having been audited.
## BASIS FOR OPINIONS
I conducted my audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) (UK), applicable law and Practice Note 10 ‘Audit of Financial Statements of Public Sector Entities in the United Kingdom’. My responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of my certificate.
Those standards require me and my staff to comply with the Financial Reporting Council’s Revised Ethical Standard 2019. I have also elected to apply the ethical standards relevant to listed entities. I am independent of the Arts Council England in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to my audit of the financial statements in the UK. My staff and I have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements.
I believe that the audit evidence I have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for my opinion.
In my opinion, the financial statements:
- give a true and fair view of the state of the Arts Council England’s Lottery Distribution Accounts affairs as at 31 March 2021 and of the total comprehensive income for the year then ended; and
- have been properly prepared in accordance with the National Lottery etc Act 1993 and Secretary of State directions issued thereunder.
## OPINION ON REGULARITY
In my opinion, in all material respects the income and expenditure recorded in the financial statements have been applied to the purposes intended by Parliament and the financial transactions recorded in the financial statements conform to the authorities which govern them.
## CONCLUSIONS RELATING TO GOING CONCERN
In auditing the financial statements, I have concluded that the Arts Council England’s use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work I have performed, I have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the Arts Council England’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
My responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Accounting Officer with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
The going concern basis of accounting for Arts Council England is adopted in consideration of the requirements set out in HM Treasury’s
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Government Reporting Manual, which require entities to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements where it anticipated that the services which they provide will continue into the future.
## OTHER INFORMATION
The other information comprises information included in the Annual Report but does not include the parts of the Remuneration Report described in that report as having been audited, the financial statements and my auditor’s report thereon. The Accounting Officer is responsible for the other information. My opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and except to the extend otherwise explicitly stated in my report, I do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. In connection with my audit of the financial statements, my responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or my knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If I identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, I am required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work I have performed, I conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, I am required to report that fact.
I have nothing to report in this regard.
## OPINION ON OTHER MATTERS
In my opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:
- the parts of the Remuneration Report to be audited have been properly prepared in accordance with Secretary of State directions made under the National Lottery etc Act 1993; and
- the information given in the Chair’s report; the Chief Executive’s report; Achieving great art and culture; the parts of the Remuneration report that are not audited;
the Sustainability report; the Trustees’ report and management commentary; the Strategic report; and the National Lottery report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements.
## MATTERS ON WHICH I REPORT BY EXCEPTION
In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the Arts Council England and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, I have not identified material misstatements in the Chair’s report; the Chief Executive’s report; Achieving great art and culture; the parts of the Remuneration report that are not audited; the Sustainability report; the Trustees’ report and management commentary; the Strategic report; and the National Lottery report. I have nothing to report in respect of the following matters which I report to you if, in my opinion:
- adequate accounting records have not been kept or returns adequate for my audit have not been received from branches not visited by my staff; or
- the financial statements and the parts of the Remuneration Report to be audited are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
- certain disclosures of remuneration specified by HM Treasury’s Government Financial Reporting Manual are not made; or
- I have not received all of the information and explanations I require for my audit; or
- the Governance Statement does not reflect compliance with HM Treasury’s guidance.
## RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE ACCOUNTING OFFICER FOR THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
As explained more fully in the Statement of Accounting Officer’s Responsibilities, the Accounting Officer is responsible for:
- the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the applicable financial reporting framework and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view;
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ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
- internal controls as the Accounting Officer determines is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statement to be free form material misstatement, whether due to fraud of error.
- assessing the Arts Council England’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Accounting Officer anticipates that the services provided by the Arts Council England will not continue to be provided in the future.
AUDITOR’S RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE AUDIT OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
My responsibility is to audit, certify and report on the financial statements in accordance with the National Lottery etc Act 1993.
My objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue a certificate that includes my opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
I design procedures in line with my responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of noncompliance with laws and regulation, including fraud.
My procedures included the following:
- Inquiring of management, the Arts Council England’s head of internal audit and those charged with governance, including obtaining and reviewing supporting documentation relating to the Arts Council England’s policies and procedures relating to:
- identifying, evaluating and complying with laws and regulations and whether they were aware of any instances of non-compliance;
- detecting and responding to the risks of fraud and whether they have knowledge of any actual, suspected or alleged fraud; and
- the internal controls established to mitigate risks related to fraud or noncompliance with laws and regulations including the Arts Council England’s controls relating to the National Lottery etc Act 1993 and Secretary of State directions issued thereunder, and Managing Public Money;
- assessing the incentives for management to manipulate reported income and expenditure to remain within voted Parliamentary control totals;
- reviewing the Arts Council England’s accounting policies;
- using analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships and transactions;
- discussing among the engagement team regarding how and where fraud might occur in the financial statements and any potential indicators of fraud. As part of this discussion, I identified potential for fraud in the following areas: revenue recognition and posting of unusual journals;
- obtaining an understanding of Arts Council England’s framework of authority as well as other legal and regulatory frameworks that the Arts Council operates in, focusing on those laws and regulations that had a direct effect on the financial statements or that had a fundamental effect on the operations of the Arts Council England. The key laws and regulations I considered in this context included the National Lottery etc Act 1993 and Secretary of State directions issued thereunder, tax law, employment law, and Managing Public Money;
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In addition to the above, my procedures to respond to identified risks included the following:
- reviewing the financial statement disclosures and testing to supporting documentation to assess compliance with relevant laws and regulations discussed above;
- enquiring of management, the Audit Committee concerning actual and potential litigation and claims;
I communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that I identify during my audit.
## REPORT
I have no observations to make on these financial statements.
- reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance and the Board;
- in addressing the risk of fraud through management override of controls, testing the appropriateness of journal entries and other adjustments; assessing whether the judgements made in making accounting estimates are indicative of a potential bias; and evaluating the business rationale of any significant transactions that are unusual or outside the normal course of business; and
I also communicated relevant identified laws and regulations and potential fraud risks to all engagement team members including internal specialists and remained alert to any indications of fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations throughout the audit.
## Gareth Davies Comptroller and Auditor General
2 DECEMBER 2021
## **National Audit Office**
157–197 Buckingham Palace Road Victoria London SW1W 9SP
A further description of my responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: **www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities** . This description forms part of my certificate.
In addition, I am required to obtain evidence sufficient to give reasonable assurance that the income and expenditure reported in the financial statements have been applied to the purposes intended by Parliament and the financial transactions conform to the authorities which govern them.
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## STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE NET INCOME FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021
**----- Start of picture text -----**
NOTE 31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020
£000 £000
INCOME
Share of proceeds from the National Lottery Distribution Fund 2 253,130 247,871
Investment returns on the Distribution Fund 2 148 1,199
253,278 249,070
Other income 3 1,643 52
Total income 254,921 249,122
EXPENDITURE
Grant expenditure:
Grant commitments made in the year 168,296 187,478
Less: lapsed and revoked commitments (9,408) (10,162)
Net grant commitments 10 158,888 177,316
Other expenditure:
Other operating costs – 184
Invoiced Arts expenditure 1,192 586
Costs apportioned from Grant-in-Aid accounts 6 17,425 18,821
Total expenditure 177,505 196,907
Net income 77,416 52,215
Interest receivable – 18
Net income after interest 77,416 52,233
Total comprehensive income for the year ended 31 March 77,416 52,233
**----- End of picture text -----**
ALL INCOME AND EXPENDITURE DISCLOSED ABOVE RELATES TO CONTINUING ACTIVITIES. THE NOTES ON PAGES 147 TO 166 FORM PART OF THESE ACCOUNTS.
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## STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION AS AT 31 MARCH 2021
**----- Start of picture text -----**
NOTE 31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020
£000s £000s
CURRENT ASSETS
Trade and other receivables 9 40 18
Investments: balance in the National Lottery Distribution Fund 2 210,563 256,637
Cash and cash equivalents 14 870 6,677
Total current assets 211,473 263,332
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Grant liabilities due within one year 10 190,183 207,335
Trade and other payables 11 672 122
Due to Grant-in-Aid accounts 19e 1,488 3,042
Total current liabilities 192,343 210,499
Net current assets 19,130 52,833
NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES
Grant liabilities due in more than one year 10 26,302 137,421
Net Liabilities (7,172) (84,588)
EQUITY
General reserve (9,289) (86,705)
Fair value reserve 2,117 2,117
(7,172) (84,588)
**----- End of picture text -----**
THE NOTES ON PAGES 147 TO 166 FORM PART OF THESE ACCOUNTS.
Dr Darren Henley OBE Chief Executive 30 NOVEMBER 2021
Sir Nicholas Serota CH Chair 30 NOVEMBER 2021
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## STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021
**----- Start of picture text -----**
NOTE 2020/21 2019/20
£000s £000s
CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES
Funds received from the National Lottery Distribution Fund 2 299,352 275,063
Other cash receipts 1,622 87
Grants paid 10 (287,159) (254,921)
Cash paid to Grant-in-Aid accounts (18,979) (17,375)
Other cash payments (643) (830)
Net cash inflow/(outflow) from operating activities 12 (5,807) 2,024
CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES
Interest received – 18
Net cash inflow from investing activities – 18
Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents 13/14 (5,807) 2,042
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 6,677 4,635
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period 870 6,677
**----- End of picture text -----**
THE NOTES ON PAGES 147 TO 166 FORM PART OF THESE ACCOUNTS.
## STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021
**----- Start of picture text -----**
GENERAL FAIR VALUE TOTAL TOTAL
RESERVE RESERVE RESERVES RESERVES
2020/21 2020/21 2020/21 2019/20
£000s £000s £000s £000s
Closing reserve position 31 March (86,705) 2,117 (84,588) (136,821)
Transferred (to)/from the statement of
77,416 – 77,416 52,233
comprehensive net expenditure
Closing reserve position 31 March (9,289) 2,117 (7,172) (84,588)
**----- End of picture text -----**
THE NOTES ON PAGES 147 TO 166 FORM PART OF THESE ACCOUNTS.
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## NOTES TO THE LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNTS
## 1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES
## 1a. BASIS OF PREPARATION
We have prepared these accounts in accordance with the National Lottery etc Act 1993 (as amended) and directions issued thereunder by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport with the consent of HM Treasury and the 2018/19 Government Financial Reporting Manual (FReM) issued by HM Treasury. The accounting policies contained in the FReM apply International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as adapted or interpreted for the public sector context.
Where the FReM permits a choice of accounting policy, the accounting policy which is judged to be the most appropriate for the particular circumstances of the Arts Council Lottery distribution accounts for the purpose of giving a true and fair view has been selected. The particular policies adopted by the Arts Council Lottery distribution accounts are described below. They have been applied consistently in dealing with items that are considered material to the accounts.
The accounts are prepared on a going concern basis. Last year the Statement of Financial Position showed a deficit of £85 million. This year the position has moved to a deficit of £7 million. The reason for this is that, unlike Grant-in-Aid, the full amount of Lottery grant commitments are shown in the accounts in the year when the commitment is made. In 2017/18 we entered into our new four-year investment round, which meant those National Portfolio Organisations which are being funded through the Lottery distribution accounts showed the full four-year commitment in 2017/18 of £464 million, for activity and payments which will take place over the period 2018-22. The deficit from last year has reduced by £78 million and will decrease further over the next two years as we make further payments against the grants that were committed in 2017/18. The grant commitments have been entered into after consideration of the cash requirements of grant recipients and
after taking account of income projections provided by the Gambling Commission.
The accounts are prepared on a historic cost basis. Separate accounts have been prepared for the activities funded from Grant-in-Aid, in accordance with the directions issued by the Secretary of State. Full consolidated accounts have not been prepared.
## 1b. RECOGNITION OF INCOME AND EXPENDITURE
All income and expenditure are accounted for on a receivable and payable basis. Grant commitments payable within one year of the balance sheet date are recognised in the balance sheet as current liabilities. Those payable more than one year from the balance sheet date are shown as grant commitments over one year.
## 1c. NATIONAL LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION FUND
Balances held in the National Lottery Distribution Fund remain under the stewardship of the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. However, the share of these balances attributable to Arts Council England is as shown in the accounts and, at the date of the statement of financial position, has been notified by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport as being available for distribution by Arts Council England for current and future commitments.
## 1d. TAXATION
Arts Council England, as a registered charity (1036733), is considered to pass the tests set out in paragraph 1, schedule 6 of the Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable trust for UK income tax purposes.
Accordingly, the charity is potentially exempt from taxation in respect of income or capital gains received within categories covered by part 10 of the Income Tax Act 2007 or section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, to the extent that such income or gains are applied exclusively to charitable purposes. No tax charge has arisen in the year.
LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNTS 147
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
## 1e. PENSIONS
We provide a defined benefit pension scheme for our employees (the Arts Council Retirement Plan 1994) and are a participating employer in the West Yorkshire Pension Fund.
The Arts Council Retirement Plan is a multiemployer scheme and we cannot identify our share of the underlying assets and liabilities. We have therefore accounted for this scheme as if it were a defined contribution scheme, in accordance with FRS102, with the costs of the scheme being charged to the statement of financial activities. The West Yorkshire Pension Fund is also a multi-employer scheme, but, as a local government pension scheme, we are able to identify our share of the underlying assets and liabilities and have therefore accounted for this scheme in line with FRS102.
All pensions adjustments are charged through the Grant-in-Aid accounts and recharged to the Lottery distribution accounts.
In order to meet the pension auto enrolment requirements, we also provide a defined contribution scheme for staff who are automatically enrolled (via The People’s Pension).
## 1g. FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS
In accordance with the Lottery accounts direction, realised profits and losses on investments are recognised within the Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure (SoCNE).
## 1h. POLICY ON RESERVES
Reserves held within the Lottery distribution accounts represent the difference between the amount allocated to Arts Council England and the amount committed.
## 1i. STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
The statement of financial position reports the revaluation reserve on the National Lottery Distribution Fund balance as a fair value reserve.
## 1j. ADOPTION OF INTERNATIONAL REPORTING STANDARDS
Arts Council England has been required to present the Lottery distribution accounts under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) since 2009/10.
## 1f. APPORTIONED COSTS
Arts Council England incurs indirect costs, which are shared between activities funded from Grant-in-Aid and activities funded from the National Lottery. We are required to apportion indirect costs properly between the two areas in accordance with good accounting practice. It should be noted that Grant-in-Aid accounts are prepared under the FRS102 and the Charity SORP, and as such are not impacted by IFRS. There is no material impact on the recharge to Lottery were IFRS a requirement for adoption for the Grant-in-Aid accounts.
148 LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNTS
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
## 2. NATIONAL LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION FUND
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2020/2021 2019/2020
£000s £000s
Balance at 1 April 256,637 282,630
Share of proceeds from the National Lottery Distribution Fund 253,130 247,871
Investment returns on the Distribution Fund 148 1,199
Receipt of funds from winding up of Olympic Lottery Distribution Fund – –
Cash drawn down (299,352) (275,063)
Balance at 31 March 210,563 256,637
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THE BALANCE IN THE NATIONAL LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION FUND AT 31 MARCH 2021 IS BASED ON THE INTERIM CERTIFICATE ISSUED BY DCMS.
## 3. OTHER INCOME
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GRANTS AND SPONSORSHIP RECEIVED 2020/2021 2019/2020
£000s £000s
Other central Government bodies 75 8
Public Corporations – –
Sundry 1,568 44
1,643 52
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## Grants, sponsorship and donations are analysed as follows:
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2020/2021 2019/2020
£000s £000s
OTHER CENTRAL GOVERNMENT BODIES
Historic England 50 –
Natural England 25 –
Heritage Lottery Fund – 8
PUBLIC CORPORATIONS
British Council – –
OTHER GRANTS, SPONSORSHIP AND DONATIONS
Other grants, sponsorship and donations 1,568 44
1,643 52
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LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNTS 149
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
## 4. STAFF COSTS
No operating costs are directly charged to the Lottery accounts; all costs are initially charged to Grant-in-Aid and then recharged to the Lottery accounts based on the amount of time spent on Lottery-related activities. These are disclosed in Note 6 below.
## 5. PENSIONS
Arts Council England are a participating employer in the Arts Council Retirement Plan (1994) and the West Yorkshire Pension Fund (WYPF) and also contribute to a group personal pension arrangement.
All transactions generated as a result of the FRS102 report are charged initially to the Grantin-Aid accounts. The costs are then recharged across to the Lottery accounts in the same ratio as other salary costs. This ensures that both Grant-in-Aid and Lottery are correctly charged with their proportion of the overall pension charges. However, the assets and liabilities of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund are shown only in the Grant-in-Aid accounts.
## 6. COSTS APPORTIONED FROM ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND GRANT-IN-AID ACCOUNTS
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2020/2021 2019/2020
£000s £000s
Staff costs 13,188 13,710
Indirect staff costs (74) 302
Premises 1,047 1,275
Supplies & Services 1,948 1,568
Travel & Subsistence 20 800
Professional Fees 813 719
Central Costs 130 134
Other Recharges – contribution to depreciation 353 313
17,425 18,821
Corporate governance costs included above 781 1433
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150 LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNTS
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
## 7. (DECREASE)/INCREASE IN LOTTERY FUNDS
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2020/2021 2019/2020
£000s £000s
Stated after charging:
(a) Auditors’ remuneration 63 61
(b) Staff travel, subsistence and hospitality 20 800
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The fee for the statutory audit in 2020/21 is £62,500 (2019/20: £60,825) There were no fees payable to the auditors for non-audit services.
## 8. NON-CURRENT ASSETS
Lottery accounts are charged their share of the depreciation of assets employed across all Arts Council activities. All tangible fixed assets are recognised on the Grant-in-Aid balance sheet and it is not possible to allocate them across accounts.
## 9. RECEIVABLES
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31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020
£000s £000s
– –
Prepayments and accrued income
Other receivables 40 18
Provision for doubtful debts – –
40 18
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## 10. GRANT COMMITMENTS
Prior to 2014/15, commitments accounted for were limited to those where there had been written acceptance from the grant recipient.
In line with the 2014/15 Lottery Directions, issued by the Secretary of State, commitments are now accounted for when the decision to award grants has been made and communicated to the grant recipient.
LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNTS 151
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
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31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020
£000s £000s
Grant liabilities brought forward 344,756 422,361
Grant commitments made 168,296 187,478
Less: lapsed and revoked commitments (9,408) (10,162)
Grant liabilities paid (287,159) (254,921)
Balance of grant liabilities outstanding carried forward 216,485 344,756
31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020
AGEING OF GRANT LIABILITIES:
£000s £000s
2020/21 N/A 207,335
2021/22 190,183 119,069
2022/23 19,415 13,726
2023/24 6,718 4,626
2024/25 119 –
2025/26 50 –
216,485 344,756
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## 11. CURRENT LIABILITIES
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31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020
£000s £000s
Trade payables 639 109
Other payables 33 13
672 122
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152 LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNTS
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
## 12. CASH FLOW RECONCILIATION
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RECONCILIATION OF OPERATING SURPLUS/(DEFICIT) TO NET 2020/2021 2019/2020
CASH FLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES £000s £000s
Operating surplus 77,416 52,233
Interest receivable – (18)
Decrease in receivables and prepayments 46,052 26,028
Decrease in payables (129,275) (76,219)
Net cash inflow/(outflow) (5,807) (2,024)
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## 13. RECONCILIATION OF NET CASH FLOW TO MOVEMENT IN FUNDS
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2020/2021 2019/2020
£000s £000s
Increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents in the year (5,807) 2,042
Funds at 1 April 6,677 4,635
Funds at 31 March 870 6,677
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## 14. CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS
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1 APRIL 2020 CASH FLOW 31 MARCH 2021
£000s £000s £000s
Cash and cash equivalents 6,677 (5,807) 870
6,677 (5,807) 870
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## 15. LEASES
There were no commitments under noncancellable operating leases at 31 March 2021 (31 March 2020: £nil).
## 16. CAPITAL COMMITMENTS
There were no contracted capital commitments as at 31 March 2021 (31 March 2020: £nil).
## 17. CHARGES ON ASSETS
Since January 2018, the standard conditions for Grant-in-Aid and Lottery capital grants for building projects of between £500,000 and £5 million give the Arts Council the option to seek security over land or buildings to prevent the assets being sold, mortgaged or put to an alternative use without the Arts Council’s consent. For grants below £1 million, Arts Council England would request a deed of covenant and restriction on title. For grants above £1 million, Arts Council England would register a legal charge over the asset.
LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNTS 153
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
## 18. RECONCILIATION OF TRANSACTIONS WITH DELEGATE BODY
18a. NATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR YOUTH MUSIC
The National Foundation for Youth Music (NFYM) is a delegate body of Arts Council England in distributing Lottery funds. Transactions in these accounts relating to this delegation reconcile to transactions in the accounts of NFYM as follows:
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2020/2021 2019/2020
TRANSACTIONS IN ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND ACCOUNTS:
£000s £000s
Grant commitments in the year – –
NFYM payables balance as at 31 March 9,651 19,302
THIS RECONCILES TO NFYM’S ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH AS FOLLOWS:
Balance at 1 April 3,857 1,492
INCOMING FUNDS:
Arts Council England grant 9,651 9,651
Other funds 3,527 3,669
OUTGOING FUNDS:
Grant expenditure (11,082) (9,392)
0ther expenditure (1,659) (1,563)
Balance at 31 March 4,294 3,857
Arts Council England receivables balance as at 31 March 9,651 19,302
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The 2020/21 figures were unaudited at the date of signing these accounts. The 2019/20 figures have been adjusted to reflect the audited accounts.
154 LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNTS
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
## 18c. PERFORMING RIGHTS SOCIETY FOR MUSIC FOUNDATION
The Performing Rights Society for Music Foundation (PRSMF) is a delegate body of Arts Council England in distributing Lottery funds. Transactions in these accounts relating to this delegation reconcile to transactions in the accounts of the PRSMF as follows:
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2020/2021 2019/2020
TRANSACTIONS IN ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND ACCOUNTS:
£000s £000s
Grant commitments in the year – Grant-in-Aid – –
Grant commitments in the year – Lottery – –
Performing Rights Society for Music Foundation payables balance as at 31 March – Grant-in-Aid – –
Performing Rights Society for Music Foundation payables balance as at 31 March – Lottery – –
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This reconciles to the PRSMF accounts for the year ended 31 March as follows:
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GRANT-IN-AID LOTTERY GRANT-IN-AID LOTTERY
2020/21 2020/21 2019/20 2019/20
£000s £000s £000s £000s
Balance at 1 April – – – 120
INCOMING FUNDS:
Arts Council England grant – – – (120)
Other funds – – – –
OUTGOING FUNDS:
Grant expenditure – – – –
Other expenditure – – – –
Balance at 31 March – – – –
Arts Council England receivables – – – 120
balance as at 31 March
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The 2020/21 figures were unaudited at the date of signing these accounts. The 2019/20 figures have been adjusted to reflect the audited accounts.
LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNTS 155
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
## 18d. VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM (V&A)
The Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) is a delegate body of Arts Council England in distributing Lottery funds.
Transactions in these accounts relating to this delegation reconcile to transactions in the accounts of V&A as follows:
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2020/2021 2019/2020
TRANSACTIONS IN ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND ACCOUNTS:
£000s £000s
Grant commitments in the year – –
V&A payables balance as at 31 March 938 1,500
THIS RECONCILES TO V&A’S ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH AS FOLLOWS:
Balance at 1 April – 207
INCOMING FUNDS:
Arts Council England grant 608 537
OUTGOING FUNDS:
Grant expenditure (592) (728)
Other expenditure (16) (16)
Balance at 31 March – –
Arts Council England receivables balance as at 31 March 938 1,500
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The 2020/21 figures were unaudited at the date of signing these accounts; the 2019/20 figures were adjusted to reflect audited accounts.
156 LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNTS
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
## 19. FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS
Cash requirements for Lottery expenditure are met by drawing down against weekly forecasts of need from the balances held on behalf of the Arts Council by the National Lottery Distribution Fund. At 31 March 2020, the fund balance was £257 million. This had decreased to £211 million by 31 March 2021, at which point there were £216 million of grant commitments yet to be paid out.
In budgeting for current expenditure, the Arts Council balances the anticipated outflow of
cash payments against grant commitments along with forward forecasts of Lottery income provided by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. This means that the Arts Council is exposed to little immediate credit, liquidity or market risk.
## 19a. LIQUIDITY RISK
In 2020/21, 99.36 per cent of Arts Council England’s income derived from the National Lottery and the investment returns from the balances held with the National Lottery Distribution Fund.
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£000s
At the balance sheet date, Arts Council England had net assets of: (7,172)
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We do not believe that we are exposed to significant liquidity risks, and are satisfied that we have sufficient current liquid resources to cover our projected payments of £190 million over the next financial year.
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LIQUID ASSETS AS AT 31MARCH 2021: £000s
Market value of National Lottery Distribution Fund investments 210,563
Cash and cash equivalents 870
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## 19b. INTEREST RATE RISK
In accordance with the National Lottery Act 1998, National Lottery income receivable by Arts Council England is passed by the National Lottery Distribution Fund to the Commissioners for the Reduction of National Debt who invest the income in a narrow band of low-risk assets such as government bonds and cash. Arts Council England has no control over the investment of funds on their behalf. The management of the National Lottery Distribution Fund meets with representatives of the Commissioners for the Reduction of National Debt on a regular basis to manage the risks associated with the investment of these monies.
At the balance sheet date, the market value of the Arts Council’s share of the National Lottery Distribution Fund was £210,562,760.
In the year, the average return on these investments was 0.07 per cent (2019/20: 0.72 per cent).
LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNTS 157
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
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FUND INVESTMENT AVERAGE PROPORTION OF
BALANCE RETURN RETURN TOTAL INCOME
£000s £000s
2020/21 210,563 148 0.07% 0.06%
2019/20 256,637 1,199 0.72% 0.48%
2018/19 282,630 1,144 0.67% 0.51%
2017/18 298,105 660 0.35% 0.29%
2016/17 314,514 741 0.34% 0.32%
2015/16 334,285 1,095 0.50% 0.41%
2014/15 325,697 1,101 0.50% 0.40%
2013/14 286,613 1,083 0.50% 0.47%
2012/13 282,192 1,445 0.78% 0.53%
2011/12 194,490 1,515 2.26% 0.71%
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Cash balances which are drawn down by Arts Council England from the National Lottery Distribution Fund to pay grant commitments and operating costs are held in an instant access variable rate bank account, which carried an interest rate of 0.22 per cent below base rate until 1 September 2019. With effect from 1 September 2019, our banking facility has been transferred to the Government Banking Service. This means that we no longer receive any interest on current account deposits.
The cash balance at the year end was £869,788.
## 19c. FOREIGN CURRENCY RISK
Our exposure to foreign currency risk is not significant as less than 1 per cent of transactions by value are processed in currencies other than sterling.
158 LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNTS
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
## 19d. FINANCIAL ASSETS BY CATEGORY
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2020/2021 2019/2020
TRANSACTIONS IN ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND ACCOUNTS:
£000s £000s
RECEIVABLES DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR
Accrued income – –
Other receivables 40 18
40 18
INVESTMENTS
National Lottery Distribution Fund 210,563 256,637
CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS
Cash and cash equivalents 870 6,677
Total financial assets 211,473 263,332
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## 19e. FINANCIAL LIABILITIES BY CATEGORY
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2020/2021 2019/2020
£000s £000s
Trade payables 639 109
Other payables 33 13
Due to Arts Council Grant-in-Aid accounts 1,488 3,042
Grant payables falling due within one year 190,183 207,335
Grant payables falling due over one year 26,302 137,421
Total financial liabilities 218,645 347,920
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Included within the financial liabilities are amounts such as grants outstanding and deferred income. While these liabilities are not contractual, they have been disclosed above in the interests of completeness.
## 20. RELATED PARTIES
## 20a. COUNCIL MEMBERS
We maintain publicly available registers in which council members declare their interests, including any direct interests in grant applications made to, and commercial relationships with, the Arts Council. The declared interests in grant recipients along with amounts awarded for the year ended 31 March 2021 are detailed below.
LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNTS 159
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
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GRANTS FOR BALANCE
THE YEAR UNPAID AS AT
ENDED 31 31 MARCH
MARCH 2021 2021
COUNCIL MEMBER £000s £000s ORGANISATION RELATIONSHIP TYPE
Sir Nicholas 83 – Cornubian Arts and Partner is a Chair of the
Serota CH Science Trust (CAST) Trust
– 450 Kneehigh Theatre Trust Partner is an Advisory
Committee Member
17 – Ligeti Quartet Niece is manager
– 8 Tate Gallery Curatorial Advisor role –
remunerated
Andrew Miller – 107 Royal Shakespeare Other/Governor
MBE Company
2,000 2,100 TheSpace C.I.C. Board Member
–
2,051 Coventry City of Advisor/consultant
Culture Trust
– 3 Independent Cinema Advisor/consultant
Office
663 68 Northampton Theatres Executive Associate
Trust
– 6,123 Welsh National Opera Trustee
Catherine Mallyon – 107 Royal Shakespeare Executive Director
Company (remunerated) and Board
Member
– 450 Arts and Humanities Board Member
Research Council
– 2,181 City of Birmingham Partner is a Board
Symphony Orchestra Member
35 6 Orchestra of the Swan Advisory Council Member
900 – Shakespeare Birthplace Advisory Council Member
Trust
– 450 Watermill Theatre Board Member (not
remunerated)
Ciara Eastell OBE 16 5 Double Elephant CIC Partner is a Director
– 8 Tate Gallery Advisor/consultant
(remunerated)
David Joseph 208 – Julie’s Bicycle Director/Trustee
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160 LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNTS
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
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GRANTS FOR BALANCE
THE YEAR UNPAID AS AT
ENDED 31 31 MARCH
MARCH 2021 2021
COUNCIL MEMBER £000s £000s ORGANISATION RELATIONSHIP TYPE
Elisabeth – 700 Arnolfini Gallery Freelands Foundation,
Murdoch of whom Elisabeth is
founder and Chair, funded
this Organisation
– 41 Bath Spa University Freelands Foundation
Research and Organisation
Enterprise Office
17 – Create London Freelands Foundation
Organisation
250 210 Firstsite Ltd Freelands Foundation
Organisation
150 – South London Gallery Freelands Foundation
Organisation
25 – The Public Catalogue Freelands Foundation
Foundation Organisation
15 1 University of Brighton Freelands Foundation
(Brighton CCA) Organisation
350 – Yorkshire Sculpture Freelands Foundation
Park Organisation
– 1 Manchester Freelands Foundation
Metropolitan University Organisation
91 – a-n The Artists Freelands Foundation
Information Company Organisation
– 15 Nottingham Freelands Foundation
Contemporary Organisation
– 1,275 Nesta Arts & Culture Freelands Foundation
Organisation
– 75 Site Gallery Freelands Foundation
Organisation
– 280 Spike Island Art Space Freelands Foundation
Ltd Organisation
40 – The Hepworth Freelands Foundation
Wakefield Trust Organisation
– 68 The New Art Exchange Freelands Foundation
Ltd Organisation
– 65 The Whitworth, Freelands Foundation
University of Manchester Organisation
– 320 The Public Catalogue Freelands Foundation
Foundation Organisation
– 484 Towner Art Gallery Freelands Foundation
Organisation
– 64 Turner Contemporary Freelands Foundation
Organisation
– 8 Tate Gallery Freelands Foundation
Organisation
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ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
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GRANTS FOR BALANCE
THE YEAR UNPAID AS AT
ENDED 31 31 MARCH
MARCH 2021 2021
COUNCIL MEMBER £000s £000s ORGANISATION RELATIONSHIP TYPE
Michael Eakin – 71 Royal Liverpool Ongoing, employed as
Philharmonic Director, remunerated
Paul Roberts OBE – 1,506 A New Direction Advisor/consultant.
London Limited Not remunerated
– 15 Nottingham Ongoing Board Member.
Contemporary Not remunerated
– 14 Durham University Commissioner.
Not remunerated
71 Nottingham Music Former Chair of the Board.
Service Not remunerated
Professor – 64 Turner Contemporary Affiliated through
Roni Brown employer. Turner
Contemporary and UCA
have a financial agreement
for services
– 1,519 Artswork Board Member
– 846 Farnham Maltings Partner is Director
Association
– 100 Institute of International Hosted at University of
Visual Arts the Arts London which is
funded by ACE
Ruth MacKenzie – 8 Tate Gallery Member
Sukhy Johal MBE – 208 The University of Employee
Lincoln
– 98 Threshold Studios Partner is a Project
Director
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162 LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNTS
ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
The declared interests in grant recipients along with amounts awarded for the year ended 31 March 2020 are detailed below.
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GRANTS FOR BALANCE
THE YEAR UNPAID AS AT
ENDED 31 31 MARCH
MARCH 2020 2020
COUNCIL MEMBER £000s £000s ORGANISATION RELATIONSHIP TYPE
Sir Nicholas 8 908 Kneehigh Theatre Trust Partner is a trustee
Serota CH
Andrew Miller – 1,230 TheSpace C.I.C. Board Member
MBE
113 12,359 Welsh National Opera Trustee
Catherine Mallyon 40 4,402 City of Birmingham Partner is a Board
Symphony Orchestra Member
57 66 Orchestra of the Swan Advisory Council Member
– 1,113 Royal Shakespeare Executive Director
Company (remunerated) and Board
Member
8 909 Watermill Theatre Partner is a Board
Member
500 500 Arts and Humanities Board Member
Research Council
Ciara Eastell OBE – 8 Tate Gallery Remunerated consultant
Elisabeth – 330 Firstsite Ltd Freelands Foundation
Murdoch Organisation
– 130 MK Gallery Freelands Foundation
Organisation
– 15 Nottingham Freelands Foundation
Contemporary Organisation
– 75 Site Gallery Freelands Foundation
Organisation
5 580 Spike Island Art Space Freelands Foundation
Ltd Organisation
– 720 The Public Catalogue Freelands Foundation
Foundation Organisation
Michael Eakin 221 221 Royal Liverpool Ongoing, employed as
Philharmonic Director, remunerated
Professor – 15 Contemporary Dance The Place is an NPO and
Roni Brown Trust there is a proposal for
partnership between UAL
and The Place
16 1,708 Farnham Maltings Partner is Director
Association
Sukhy Johal MBE 195 98 Threshold Studios Partner is an employee
and Project Director
Paul Roberts OBE – 15 Nottingham Board Member
Contemporary
131 48 Durham University Commissioner
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LOTTERY DISTRIBUTION ACCOUNTS 163
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
## 20b. DIRECTORS AND SENIOR MANAGERS
Executive directors and senior managers in Arts Council England are also required to declare any direct interests in grant applications made to, and commercial relationships with, the Arts Council. The declared interests in grant recipients along with amounts awarded for the year ended 31 March 2021 are detailed below.
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GRANTS FOR BALANCE
THE YEAR UNPAID AS AT
ENDED 31 31 MARCH
DIRECTOR OR MARCH 2021 2021
SENIOR MANAGER £000s £000s ORGANISATION RELATIONSHIP TYPE
Darren Henley – 5 Cultural Institute, Unpaid Member of the
University of Leeds Advisory Group
The Victoria and Albert
Kate Bellamy – 938 Former employee
Museum
Mags Patten – 550 The Clore Leadership Part of steering group
Programme
Partner is paid Chair of
Peter Knott 250 250 One Dance UK
Young Peoples’ Panel
Phillip Gibby – 1 RISE Youth Dance Partner is Advisor/
Consultant
35 – Trigger Partner is Advisor/
Consultant
Bath Spa University
Simon Mellor – 41 Research and Partner is employee
Enterprise Office
– 15 Manchester City Part-time Project Director
Council of The Factory
Tonya Nelson – 7 The National Gallery Board Member
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The declared interests in grant recipients along with amounts awarded for the year ended 31 March 2020 are detailed below.
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GRANT FOR BALANCE
THE YEAR UNPAID AS AT
ENDED 31 31 MARCH
DIRECTOR OR MARCH 2020 2020
SENIOR MANAGER £000s £000s ORGANISATION RELATIONSHIP TYPE
Pitzhanger Manor
Kate Bellamy 40 20 Board Member
House & Gallery
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The declared interests of National Council members and Executive Board are available at the following link:
## **www.artscouncil.org.uk/national-council/national-council-register-interests**
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## 20c. OTHER GOVERNMENT BODIES
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is the sponsoring department for Arts Council England and is regarded as a related party. The National Foundation for Youth Music and the Performing Rights Society for Music Foundation are similarly regarded as related parties by virtue of their funding relationships with the Arts Council. At the year end, Arts Council England had the following balances outstanding with other Government bodies:
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PAYABLES RECEIVABLES PAYABLES RECEIVABLES
31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020 31 MARCH 2020
£000s £000s £000s £000s
Balances with other DCMS
– –
5,971 1,675
Government bodies
Balances with other central
Government bodies – – – –
Balances with academies 2,057 – 34 –
Balances with local authorities 13,609 – 21,194 –
Balances with NHS Trusts 1,498 – 1,976 –
Balances with public corporations 1,309 25 3,040 –
and trading funds
EXPENDITURE Y/E INCOME Y/E EXPENDITURE Y/E INCOME Y/E
31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020 31 MARCH 2020
£000s £000s £000s £000s
Transactions with other DCMS
4,873 50 123 8
Government bodies
Transactions with other central
Government bodies – – – –
Transactions with academies 2,219 – 101 –
Transactions with local authorities 2,537 – 5,508 –
Transactions with NHS Trusts 0 – 2,015 –
Transactions with public corporations 68 – 3,142 –
and trading funds
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## 21. EXCEPTIONAL ITEMS
There were no exceptional costs during 2020/21 or 2019/20.
## 22. CONTINGENT ASSETS OR LIABILITIES
The National Lottery distributors are entitled to receive a share of receipts from the sale of land on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in return for their contribution of an additional £675 million to the funding of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This was announced in 2007. The arrangements are set out in a legal agreement between the Secretary of State and the Greater London Authority (GLA) dated 29 March 2012 which sets out the distribution of funds between the GLA and the Lottery distributors (via DCMS). Land sales are likely to take place over a lengthy period, estimated to be from 2016/17 to 2036/37. DCMS estimates that the first payments to the Lottery distributors will come through around the mid-2020s.
Arts Council England did not have any contingent liabilities as at 31 March 2021.
## 23. EVENTS AFTER THE REPORTING PERIOD
In accordance with the requirements of Charities SORP (FRS102), events after the balance sheet date, post balance sheet events, are considered up to the date on which the accounts are authorised for issue. This is interpreted as the date of the independent auditor’s report to the trustees of Arts Council England.
There were no post balance sheet events between the year end and when the accounts were authorised for issue on the date the Comptroller and Auditor General certified the accounts. The financial accounts do not reflect events after this date.
## 24. LOSSES AND SPECIAL PAYMENTS
Losses and special payments are payments which would not normally be made in the course of business. Examples of such payments are lease exit payments, compensations payments or ex-gratia payments. The number and value of losses during 2020/21 were as follows:
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2020/2021 2019/2020
£000s £000s
Total value of losses – 184
Total number of losses – 3
**----- End of picture text -----**
THERE WERE NO LOSSES OR SPECIAL PAYMENTS DURING 2020/21.
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ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS
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10.
Nalional Lollery reporl
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As one of the distributors of the proceeds of the National Lottery, we are required to report on a number of areas relating to how we decide to distribute Lottery funds and the administration of our grants programmes.
## POLICY DIRECTIONS
Under the National Lottery etc Act 1993, the Secretary of State issued Policy Directions in November 2007, which we must take into account from April 2008 in distributing National Lottery funds. The Policy Directions were updated in October 2016 and are set out below, with a short explanation of how the directions have been met.
The references below relate to the National Lottery etc Act 1993 as amended by the National Lottery Act 1998 and subsequent Acts.
**a)** The need to involve the public and local communities in making policies, setting priorities and distributing money
Our 10-year Strategy for the arts, libraries and museums, _Let’s Create_ , guides all of our investment, development and advocacy work. The Strategy has been shaped by the views of artists, arts and cultural organisations, the public and our many other stakeholders and partners.
**b)** Its assessment of the needs of the arts and culture and its priorities for addressing them
_Let’s Create_ sets out our commitment to our mission and our three outcomes for creative people, creative places and a creative country. It also brings together our responsibilities across the arts and the wider cultural sector. Alongside our Delivery Plan it describes what success looks like, and how we measure progress towards the outcomes.
With its focus on place and individual creativity this Strategy directs Arts Council England to work with its partners to bring about positive change throughout the arts, museums and libraries. It helps create the conditions in
which art and culture can be presented and produced, experienced and appreciated as widely as possible. It enables us to focus our investment where it can achieve the greatest impact. It supports the development of worldclass museums and great libraries that engage diverse audiences. It sustains us as we work to maintain and enhance England’s status as a leading cultural force in the world.
**c)** The need to increase access and participation for those who do not currently benefit from the cultural opportunities available in England:
Evidence demonstrates that some communities are engaging very little with the arts and culture. This may be through lack of opportunities to attend and participate or because of barriers like socio-economic factors, physical accessibility, or a limited offer. We believe that everyone has the right to access the arts and culture and we want to transform the opportunities open to people in these places.
Our vision for Creative People and Places is to support the public in shaping local arts and culture provision and, in doing so, to increase attendance and participation in excellent art and culture, and existing Creative People and Places consortia are working to a 10-year vision to achieve this. This new funding will allow a selection of the places currently in receipt of Creative People and Places funding to build on achievements made possible through the current fund.
East Durham Creates is a Creative People and Places project managed by East Durham Community Development Trust Ltd. The project has been awarded £500,000 for a third phase. East Durham Creates is committed to the ongoing arts and cultural engagement of people within the East Durham area. It is an example of a community/voluntary sector agency – in this case a poverty charity – stepping up and leading cultural development in an area of historically low arts and cultural engagement. The project will aim to engage a minimum of 40,000 people over the next three years and
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create a sustainable legacy for long-term arts and culture provision in the area.
**d)** The need to inspire children and young people, awakening their interest and involvement in the arts
Despite 25 years of success, World Book Day acknowledges that there is more to do to reach more children from diverse backgrounds. They were awarded £94,360 for an ambitious programme of work to grow reading for pleasure for children and young people.
This project will improve their ability to reach more children, focusing on older children and young people, changing lives through a love of books, shared reading and improving life chances as a result.
Another strand of the project is to encourage and inspire an involvement in the arts among children living in disadvantaged communities. Working with libraries to understand how to encourage reading in four areas: Doncaster, Middlesbrough, Nottingham and Blackpool. Bespoke approaches in each area will help World Book Day learn the needs of families and what would encourage reading engagement.
The ultimate goal of the programme is that children and young people will experience literature in a new way, having a more authentic and affirming experience as readers, as the programme develops to reflect a wider range of people from all backgrounds.
**e)** The need to foster local community initiatives which bring people together, enrich the public realm and strengthen community spirit
Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants supports a huge range of projects that bring people together to explore creativity as communities. One such project was Positive Place Makers’ Once Upon A Town.
This project, awarded £15,000, was designed to inspire a community to creatively engage and actively participate in telling the story of their town, developing a shared narrative and cultural vision for the future. In partnership with Historic
England and the newly formed town cultural consortia, consisting of West Lancashire Borough Council, Edge Hill University, The Chapel, Positive Place Makers CIC and heritage organisations such as Ormskirk and District Family Historical Society, this project is focused on engaging a community, bringing together individuals of all ages to discuss, find out about the town’s rich heritage and create a collective narrative and shared cultural vision/programme for the future.
The overarching aim is to provide a variety of ways to bring the community together through active engagement facilitated by professional artists. An exhibition and virtual gallery/museum will provide opportunities for people to actively engage and share their lives, creating shared stories of the heritage of Ormskirk and the way in which people have lived and are living with the pandemic.
**f)** The need to support volunteering and participation in the arts and community arts
Participation and volunteering opportunities play a vital role in our sector. Many of the activities we support through National Lottery Project Grants provide a wealth of opportunities for people to take active roles in their communities.
Oxfordshire Chinese Community & Advice Centre (OCCAC) were awarded £15,000 to run creative community arts groups for socially isolated, non-English speaking and vulnerable members of the Chinese community, who are unable to participate in mainstream Englishlanguage arts groups.
OCCAC started offering online arts activities from August 2020 due to Covid-19. This approach proved to be very effective in connecting the community during the early months of the pandemic and removing barriers to participation, so they applied for funding to continue working in this way.
The project consists of creative community arts groups, including painting, Chinese calligraphy and music-making workshops led
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by professional and voluntary singers. As well as providing volunteering opportunities, the project provides vital participation activities for a community that is otherwise separated by the pandemic, connecting participants through art and music to celebrate Chinese identity and heritage.
**g)** The need to encourage new talent, innovation, and excellence and help people to develop new skills
The Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) programme was relaunched in October 2020 to support individuals who are cultural and creative practitioners and want to take time to focus on their creative development. We have committed £18 million to support individuals at this crucial time to help them innovate and develop new skills to take their practice to the next level.
In the most recent round of DYCP, we supported 824 individuals and freelancers to reshape and redefine their work during the pandemic. We supported as many exciting and ambitious proposals as we could, investing over £7 million.
**h)** The need to ensure that money is distributed for projects which promote public value and which are not intended primarily for private gain
All of our application processes require applicants for funding to clearly demonstrate the expected public benefit of their proposed activity. We give this careful consideration during our assessment processes.
**i)** The need to further the objectives of sustainable development
During the period under review, a number of organisations completed construction projects despite the pandemic and are planning for operation in line with government guidelines.
The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Costume Workshop was completed in November 2020. It has been designed in line with BREEAM 2014, New Construction, which is used to assess the environmental life cycle impacts of new non-domestic buildings at the design and construction stages.
The building incorporates several features to reduce its environmental impact, such as solar shading and high-performance building fabric with airtight construction techniques. It will also use renewable technology, with photovoltaic panels to decrease the amount of electricity used in the building, particularly during the summer months. The new development should reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 26.2 per cent.
Arts Council England invested £4.2 million Lottery capital funding in The Box, Plymouth’s new £46 million cultural destination which opened in September 2020 and the flagship project of the country’s Mayflower 400 commemorations.
The design of The Box has placed particular emphasis on sustainability including the following key environmental measures:
- passive solar design to maximise natural daylight while minimising solar gain and providing a balanced, glare-free luminance
- use of thermal mass, night time cooling and passive ventilation to control humidity and temperature
- acoustics to provide good listening conditions
- naturally ventilated spaces where possible and, where not, consideration has been given to hybrid systems
- appropriately zoned and controlled heating systems utilising the local district heating provision
- efficient lighting and automatic controls, reducing energy consumption while maintaining required luminance
- an efficient building envelope including high levels of insulation and low air permeability
- energy and water efficiency that is easy to monitor through the building management system
During operation, The Box will maximise the use of recycled materials. An ethical refuse strategy has been implemented post-
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construction in line with relevant policies, for example PCC’s zero-to-landfill agenda.
A travel plan has been written to minimise single occupancy car journeys of staff and volunteers, and a new working from home policy has been adopted to create a better life/work balance for staff and to reduce unnecessary travel.
Biodiversity is celebrated in the public realm by planting locally derived flora to encourage local fauna.
**j)** The desirability of ensuring equality of opportunity, of reducing economic and social deprivation and ensuring that all areas of England have access to the money distributed
Over the past year we have continued to support ambitious projects as organisations and creative practitioners have risen to the challenges posed by the pandemic and embraced new platforms to ensure that people across England can continue to access highquality cultural experiences.
SFP Shows Limited were awarded £1.3 million for the ambitious project HERE AND NOW, a bold, nationally significant season of new plays curated for challenging times. Under the vision of producer Sonia Friedman and artistic director Ian Rickson, HERE AND NOW is a fivemonth season of new plays, directly curated for our times and specifically designed for safe, socially-distanced live performance and digital/TV broadcast. The work will be free-toair on the BBC, extending reach and equality of opportunity. The nature of the plays and less formal audience-performance dynamics will remove barriers to access.
As well as continuing to support wide-reaching arts projects, in response to the Covid-19 crisis, we made £160 million of Lottery funding available for organisations and individuals who needed immediate support. The emergency funds package consisted of:
- £90 million made available for National Portfolio Organisations and Creative People and Places lead organisations
- £50 million made available for organisations outside of the Arts Council’s National Portfolio
- £20 million made available to creative practitioners and cultural workers
These funds were designed to reduce the immediate financial consequences of the Covid-19 crisis, to help individuals and organisations to get back on their feet so that they can continue making work in the future that will mean they can contribute to delivering our new Strategy, _Let’s Create_ .
## **k)** The need to support the long-term managerial viability and leadership of organisations in the arts
The Bristol Visual Arts Review set out to achieve a sustainable, long-term step change for visual arts in Bristol. One of the primary recommendations of the review was to invest in a significant programme of exhibitions, projects and events in the spaces at the Arnolfini and Bush House, supporting curatorial skills.
This was a transitional and potentially transformative moment for the visual arts in Bristol and presented an opportunity for Arts Council England to invest in an internationally significant visual arts programme for the city and the West of England.
The Arnolfini Gallery has been awarded £1.8 million to deliver a range of outcomes supporting curatorial excellence in the city and beyond.
## **l) The desirability of working jointly with other organisations, including other distributors**
We recognise that working in partnership with other organisations helps us to achieve our shared aims, as well as increasing the impact of our Lottery funded activity.
We have continued to work closely with the Music Venues Trust to offer an additional £1.5 million to support grassroots music venues. This funding is available to those whose main function is to host and/or promote live music
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events, particularly for new and developing talent in small- and mid-scale venues.
To date, in 2020/21 we’ve supported 58 projects, including awarding £38,848 to The Leadmill in Sheffield to create a diverse and sustainable future through researching, developing and diversifying programming to serve as many communities in Sheffield as possible.
## **Thriving Communities Fund**
The Thriving Communities Fund was designed to increase social connectedness, and help communities cope with the impact of Covid-19. It was made possible by joint working with the National Academy for Social Prescribing (providing £1.15 million) and the Arts Council (providing £250,000). The initiative also includes NHS England, Sport England, Natural England, the Office for Civil Society, the Money & Pensions Service and NHS Charities Together as strategic partners.
By working with those communities most impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, including Black, Asian and Ethnically Diverse communities, the projects we will support through the Thriving Communities Fund will help to enhance collaboration and networking between local organisations, strengthen the range of social prescribing activities offered locally, and enable social prescribing link workers to connect people to more creative community activities and services, as well as exploring ways to make these partnerships and activities sustainable over time
**m)** The need to ensure that all those receiving Lottery money acknowledge it using the common Lottery branding
We recognise how important it is that the public can see how the Lottery has benefited the arts and other good causes. We make it a condition of funding for all successful applicants to acknowledge receiving Lottery funding by using the common Lottery branding.
**n)** The need to require an element of partnership funding, or contributions in kind from other sources, to the extent that this is reasonable to achieve for different kinds of applicants in particular areas
All our funding programmes require applicants to demonstrate their ability to attract partnership funding from other sources when this can be reasonably expected. We believe that this is important, not only because it means that our Lottery funds go further, but also because it demonstrates that the proposed activity has the support of the wider community and others.
**o)** The need (a) to support projects which are for a specific, time-limited purpose, (b) to ensure that Arts Council England has the necessary information and expert advice to make decisions on each application and (c) for applicants to demonstrate the financial viability of projects
We use our National Lottery funding for specific, time-limited projects. Our application materials and assessment processes have been reviewed and developed over a number of years to ensure that we have the necessary information on which to base decisions. Applicants are always asked to provide information about the financial viability of their projects (including how they will raise match funding, whether in cash or in kind) and to describe how their projects will be managed (including how they will evaluate their work and learn/share lessons).
National Lottery funding is allocated through two main channels:
**1.** Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants is our flagship open application programme that provides National Lottery funding to individuals and organisations and for national activities. Grants range from £1,000 to £100,000 (although we may fund activities to a higher value in exceptional circumstances) and can cover activities lasting up to three years. 2020/21 saw a total of 2,411 awards made with a total value of £46,458,515.
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**2.** Development funding is used alongside our National Portfolio investment to target particular challenges, opportunities or gaps in the delivery of our priorities. It is open to any individual, organisation or consortium that meets the eligibility criteria.
Awards support additional work, rather than the running costs of arts organisations. National Portfolio Organisations that apply need to show how work supported by development funding is additional to their core programme.
In 2020/21, 831 awards were made with a total value of £25,749,440.
No touring was supported during the year due to the pandemic.
## FINANCIAL DIRECTIONS
Under section 26(3), (3a) and 4 of the National Lottery etc Act 1993 (as amended by the National Lottery Act 1998), the Secretary of State issued Financial Directions to Arts Council England, as set out below:
## LOTTERY ADMINISTRATION COSTS
The Lottery Forum, which is made up of representatives from all of the Lottery distributors, has agreed, in conjunction with DCMS, to publish annually the following information about the costs of administering the distribution of Lottery funds.
From 2018/19, DCMS approved a revised methodology for calculating Lottery administration. The target is for administration costs to be below 8 per cent of Lottery income, calculated on a rolling three-year average of current year income and the two prior years. This is a change from the previous methodology where the target administration costs were a proportion of income for a single year. The data below shows that our administration costs for 2020/21 were approximately £1.76 million less than the target and approximately £0.53 million less than last year.
The Arts Council of England (‘the Council’) shall comply with the requirements contained within the attached Statement of Financial Requirements, which have the status of Directions under section 26 of the National Lottery etc Act 1993, as amended (‘the Act’). The Statement of Financial Requirements complements the Council’s Management Statement and Financial Memorandum (MS/FM), which deals with corporate management matters and with the application of non-Lottery funds, and should be read in conjunction with the MS/FM.
We confirm that, to the best of our knowledge, we complied fully with the financial requirements in 2020/21. A copy of the Statement of Financial Requirements is publicly available.
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## 1. ACTUAL LOTTERY ADMINISTRATION COSTS
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2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2020/21
£M £M £M £M £M £M
ACTUAL ACTUAL ACTUAL ACTUAL ACTUAL TARGET
ACTUAL ADMINISTRATION COSTS* 17.85 16.26 16.35 17.63 17.10 18.86
**----- End of picture text -----**
- EXCLUDES EXCEPTIONAL ITEMS AND ONE-OFF IT DEVELOPMENT COSTS
## 2. ADJUSTED LOTTERY ADMINISTRATION COSTS
The figures in this table are for illustration only and show administration costs adjusted for inflation using inflation rates as defined by the Treasury’s GDP deflators.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2020/21
£M £M £M £M £M £M
ACTUAL ACTUAL ACTUAL ACTUAL ACTUAL TARGET
ACTUAL ADMINISTRATION COSTS*,** 15.02 15.61 15.37 16.34 17.41 19.20
**----- End of picture text -----**
- EXCLUDES EXCEPTIONAL ITEMS AND ONE-OFF IT DEVELOPMENT COSTS
- ** FIGURES HAVE BEEN ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION USING 2015/16 AS THE BASE YEAR
## 3. ACTUAL LOTTERY ADMINISTRATION COSTS AS A PROPORTION OF LOTTERY INCOME
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2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21
ACTUAL ACTUAL ACTUAL ACTUAL ACTUAL
ACTUAL ADMINISTRATION COSTS AS %
OF LOTTERY INCOME* 7.82% 7.07% 7.00% 7.08% 6.75%
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- EXCLUDES EXCEPTIONAL ITEMS AND ONE-OFF IT DEVELOPMENT COSTS. 2019/20 PERCENTAGE CALCULATED AS AN AVERAGE OF THREE YEARS’ INCOME
## GRANTS PROCESSING TIMES
For our National Lottery Project Grants, we have undertaken to process applications to decision within the following turnaround times:
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SIZE OF APPLICATION TURNAROUND TIME
Applications for funding up to and including £15,000: 6 weeks
Applications for funding for £15,001 and above: 12 weeks
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Since 2009/10 we have adopted a target of processing 90 per cent of all applications within our stated turnaround times. The thresholds were increased on 1 July 2013 from £10,000 to £15,000.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
YEAR A B C
2016/17 Actual 99.83% 99.13% 99.73%
2017/18 Actual 95.50% 97.07% 95.74%
2018/19 Actual 96.44% 96.19% 96.40%
2019/20 Actual 99.32% 97.42% 98.94%
2020/21 Actual 94.95% 95.50% 95.06%
2020/21 TARGET 90% 90% 90%
**----- End of picture text -----**
- **A** % of applications for up to £15,000 processed in six weeks (up to end of January 2021) or in 10 weeks (from February 2021)
- **B** % of applications for over £15,001 processed in 12 weeks (up to end of January 2021) or in 16 weeks (from February 2021)
- **C** Overall % of applications processed within target time
In February 2021, Arts Council England temporarily changed the National Lottery Project Grants turnaround times, from 6/12 weeks to 10/16 weeks due to the increased demand the scheme was receiving.
## POLICY ON ADDITIONALITY
Arts Council England and the organisations that distribute Lottery funds on its behalf recognise and respect the additionality principles of Lottery funding. Lottery funding enables us to extend the reach and increase the impact of the activity that we could undertake if only Exchequer funds were available. Together with the other Lottery distributors who make up the Lottery Forum, we have agreed to share the following common definition of additionality:
We and our delegates will have regard to the principles of additionality and this policy when we set the strategic objectives of our Lotteryfunded programmes and when we decide how each programme will operate. We have used, and will continue to use, Lottery funding to fund specific time-limited activity that would not take place without the support of the Lottery.
Lottery funding is distinct from government funding and adds value. Although it does not substitute for Exchequer expenditure, where appropriate it complements government and other programmes, policies and funding.
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## Image credits In order of appearance
SLUNG LOW – CHRISTMAS SHOW. PHOTO © SLUNG LOW / SIMON K ALLEN
CREATIVE BLACK COUNTRYS CREATIVE CONNECTIONS. CORRIDOR OF COLOUR BY LUKE PERRY
CHILLING DANIELLE THE WAY I SEE IT
PHOTO © HUGO GLENDENNING
CREATE STUDIOS. PHOTO BY TOM ARTHUR
FLOWERS IN LOCKDOWN. DANIELLE GREEN THE WAY I SEE IT
PHOTO © SUNDERLAND ECHO
OF EARTH AND SKY BY LUKE JERRAM, COMMISSIONED BY GLOUCESTER CULTURE TRUST 2020. PHOTO BY FLUXX FILMS
ZOOMING DANIELLE THE WAY I SEE IT
HANDS DOWN BY COMPANY CHAMELEON – PHOTO © JOEL CHESTER FILDES
ONSONG. CHARLIE MILLER. IMAGE COURTESY ONSONG MUSIC LTD
TOM SAMIR’S UNCLE SAMIR THE WAY I SEE IT
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THE HEPWORTH WAKEFIELD © NICK SINGLETON
THE FAMILY DANIELLE THE WAY I SEE IT
JOHANNA SAMIR’S AUNT FOR AFRICA SAMIR THE WAY I SEE IT
LOVES LIVE ON THE LAWN AUGUST 2020 PHOTO © PAUL BLAKEMORE
SPACE2 CARINE BROSSE HOME SWEET HOME PHOTO © SPACE2 (DETAIL)
ZOIELOGIC DANCE THEATRE, THE GRID EXPERIENCE. IMAGE COURTESY ZOIELOGIC DANCE THEATRE
RUN FREE
ROYAL EXCHANGE – LIGHT FALLS – MANUEL HARLAN
ST THOMAS STORY TOURS, THEATRE ALIBI. PERFORMER SARAH FINIGAN WITH ST THOMAS STORY TOUR PARTICIPANTS. PHOTO BY STEVE TANNER
FLOWERS I HAVE SEEN IN LOCKDOWN ELLA THE WAY I SEE IT
OR ELSE WE ARE LOST – MAX MASLEN; A SHORT FILM BY KIT HOLDER, DAN LOWENSTEIN AND TOM ROGERS – BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET
K-DOG SHE MISS ME DANIELLE THE WAY I SEE IT
IMAGE CREDITS 179
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PHOTO © RURAL ARTS
COPY NORTH – DISCOVERY MUSEUM – COLOURFUL COLLECTION – PHOTO © DISCOVERY MUSEUM
I WANT TO GO TO THE CINEMA DANIELLE THE WAY I SEE IT
OF EARTH AND SKY BY LUKE JERRAM, COMMISSIONED BY GLOUCESTER CULTURE TRUST 2020. PHOTO BY FLUXX FILMS
SELF PORTRAIT SILVER HAIR JARED THE WAY I SEE IT
NORTH – SAGE – ROYAL SPACE2 CARINE BROSSE HOME NORTHERN SINFONIA. SWEET HOME PHOTO © SPACE2 PHOTO © THOMAS JACKSON 03.180 IMAGE CREDITS
## ~~**Contact & accessibility**~~
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ISBN 978-1-5286-2578-4 CCS0521505204
## 03.