UK confirms free admission to all national museums for the foreseeable future

At a ceremony hosted by Art Fund and the Cultural Policy Unit at Tate Liverpool, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy confirmed that the United Kingdom will continue to offer free entry to the fifteen national museums directly funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The policy, launched on 1 December 2001 and now approaching its 25th anniversary, was described as a "transformative" legacy of the previous Labour government.

Nandy emphasized that museums "must be free, forever, for everyone to access". The move comes after months of speculation about possible fees for overseas visitors, a proposal that had been opposed by London Mayor Lord Sadiq Khan. Officials highlighted that visitor numbers have nearly doubled since the policy’s inception, rising from about 22.8 million in 1999 to just under 44.7 million in 2025/26. By contrast, France recently increased its Louvre admission fee for non-EU tourists to €32, a change cited as part of a broader trend toward "dual pricing" in cultural institutions.