UK’s culture spend lags behind most of Europe

The UK has one of the lowest levels of government spending on culture among European nations, the findings of a new report has revealed.

The State of the Arts report, from Campaign for the Arts (CFTA) and the University of Warwick, analyses changes in arts funding, provision, engagement, education and employment between 2009-10 and 2022-23.

It found that in 2022, the UK ranked 22nd among 25 European OECD nations in both culture spending as a share of GDP and culture spending per person.

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It is one of only seven OECD countries to decrease total culture spending per person between 2010 and 2022 in real terms. The 6% decrease in the UK – from $276 per person to $260 (around £201) per person – contrasts with increases of 22% in Germany, 25% in France and 70% in Finland.

Meanwhile, grant-in-aid given to DCMS-funded cultural organisations, consisting of Arts Council England, Historic England, the British Film Institute (BFI), the British Library and 15 museums and galleries across England – stood at £21.93 per person in 2022-23, equivalent to 0.17% of total public spending per person. When adjusted for inflation, this is 18% less than in 2009-10.

At the local level, local authorities’ revenue spending on culture and related services per person fell between 2009-10 and 2022-23, from £168.22 to £119.50 in Scotland, a 29% decline, from £129.47 to £77.92 in Wales, a 40% decline and from £88.22 to £46.30 in England, a 48% decline.

CFTA has launched a local arts funding tracker, which details the change in funding of arts, heritage and libraries in each local authority.

The University of Warwick’s Dr Heidi Ashton, the report’s lead researcher, said the cuts to arts funding are “not just numbers on a page” and represent a “significant erosion of our cultural infrastructure”. 

“This neglect not only stifles creativity but also diminishes the social and economic benefits that the arts bring to our communities,” Ashton said. 

Further funding cuts

The report also highlights cuts in funding from some of the UK’s key investors in arts organisations.

Funding from the UK’s arts councils peaked during the first phase of the Covid pandemic in 2020-21 but by 2022-23 had decreased in all four nations to below pre-pandemic levels.

After real terms adjustments, core grant-in-aid funding fell in each of the UK’s four arts councils between 2009-10 and 2022-23, by 18% in England (to stand at £9.46 per person), 22% in Scotland (to £10.86 per person), 25% in Wales (to £10.50 per person) and 66% in Northern Ireland (to £6.99 per person).

This has had a knock-on effect on the organisations that receive regular funding. In 2022-23 public funding provided to members of ACE’s national portfolio represented 35% of their total income, ten percentage points less than in 2009-10. Contributed income and earned income equated for 14% and 51% of national portfolio organisations’ total income in 2022-23, both five percentage point increases on 2009-10.

National Lottery grant funding for arts and heritage projects, which is shared between the arts councils, BFI, National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery Community Fund, fluctuated across the fourteen financial years analysed.

In 2022-23, it stood at £10.58 per person. This is 19% higher than in 2009-10, but 38% lower than the peak year (2014-15) and 4% lower than the average across the study period (£11.05).

Elsewhere in the report, figures on well-documented challenges in arts provision and attendance post-pandemic are presented, alongside the decline creative teacher numbers, GCSE and A-level entries and funding for arts education.

It also features data on growing employment numbers within the creative industries, but outlines that significant wage disparities and job precarity remain, with an average gender pay gap of 28% in the cultural sector in 2023.

“This report underscores the need for better and more balanced support to ensure the vitality and accessibility of the arts for everyone, across all parts of the UK,” the report’s executive summary concludes.