National museums to remain free for everyone
Free entry protected for every visitor to England's national museums
- National museums draw millions of visitors and add over £1 billion a year to the economy
Everyone will continue to enjoy universal free admission to our world class national museums in England, the Government has confirmed.
Free entry to museums was introduced in 2001. Earlier this year the government committed to working with the museum and tourism sectors, and local leaders, to explore whether charging overseas visitors could help museums’ finances, as part of the response to Baroness Hodge’s review of Arts Council England published in December 2025.
The government believes that charging overseas visitors could deter domestic visitors and that the impacts and benefits of charging would not be felt equally across the sector and therefore will not introduce charges for overseas visitors.
National museums also add more than £1 billion a year to the economy and bring in visitors from around the world. Seven of the UK’s ten most visited museums are national museums.
In 2025, 7.1 million people visited the Natural History Museum and 6.4 million visited the British Museum.
The £1.5 billion Arts Everywhere Fund is providing £760 million for museums, £600 million of infrastructure funding is supporting national museums and DCMS sponsored cultural organisations to address critical maintenance and works to estates, and enable these institutions to deliver on their commitments to share their collections and expertise nationally, drawing in visitors from around the world.
A further £160 million is being invested in our local and regional museums. The Museum Estates and Development Fund will help museums tackle maintenance backlogs, and the £13.6 million Museum Transformation programme will support organisations to move towards more sustainable business models.
In addition, the government will work with Arts Council and the sector to develop a long-term strategic plan for the future of museums. Further details will be released in due course.