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NPO analysis: Funding breakdown by local authority

Analysis of NPO spend in every local authority in England finds largest funding uplifts in areas targeted by ACE for investment.

Patrick Jowett
4 min read

The majority of local authorities that will see the largest funding increases in Arts Council England’s (ACE) next National Portfolio are in the funder's targeted areas for investment, our analysis has confirmed.

Arts Professional compared the funding for National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) in each local authority in England for 2018/19 to the figure promised for 2023/24, to assess the impact of the government’s levelling-up agenda.

Of the 20 local authorities that will receive the highest funding uplifts in the 2023/26 portfolio, 80% (16) feature areas listed on both ACE’s Levelling-Up for Culture Places (LUCP) and its Priority Places for investment.

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The largest increase will be seen in Croydon, an ACE Priority Place, where investment is increasing from £102,205 in 2018/19 to £1,168,980 in 2023/24. The increase results from the area gaining three new NPOs, with an additional two existing NPOs moving into the area.

Wigan is expected to see the second largest increase. An LUCP and Priority Place, investment in the area is increasing from £113,490 to £1,497,278 a year, due to two new NPOs, while one existing NPO now has its base in the area.

North Devon, also an LUCP and Priority Place, received the third largest increase, from £95,894 to £1,254,758 a year, after receiving two new NPOs, one of which (North Devon Theatres) will be receiving £1m per annum.

In total, 42 local authorities are set to see NPO funding in their area more than double, with 29 of these located in LUCP and 23 including areas in ACE's Priority Places.

This analysis outlines the extent to which ACE’s targeted areas for investment has been proritised, but this focus has been long expected.

In Feburary, the government's Levelling-Up White Paper confirmed 100% of ACE's budget uplift must be spent outside London to “significantly increasing cultural spending outside the capital”, which was followed by confirmation funding redistributed away from London would be focused towards LUCP.

When announcing its portfolio last month, ACE said investment in its target areas had increased by 95%.

Relocations and omissions cause drastic cuts

Examples of drastic cuts to NPO funding in some local authorities are down to NPOs moving locations.

For example, NPO funding in Preston has gone from £1,560,323 in 2018/19 to £229,140 in 2023/24, but the decline is primarily down to one of its NPOs moving to Wigan.

When asked by Arts Professional, an ACE spokesperson confirmed prospective NPOs supply their based local authorities and constituencies listed in the funder’s database as part of their application to the portfolio.

“There are various reasons an organisation may be based in a different constituency or local authority,” they explained.

“Most often, they have relocated, or the address where they are based now forms part of a different location due to constituency or local authority boundary changes.”

In local authorities with fewer NPOs, the loss of one organisation occasionally causes a large drop in funding.

For example, NPO funding in Oldham will decrease by 62% (from £679,861 to £257,189 a year), after the loss of Oldham Coliseum Theatre from the portfolio.

In Thurrock, funding will decrease by 73% (from £1,329,391 to £353,629) after the loss of Creative & Cultural Skills from the portfolio, a former Sector Support Organisation based in the area. Bridge Organisation the Royal Opera House listed Thurrock as its local authority in the last portfolio, but has listed Westminster in the new portfolio. 

Record geographic representation

More areas of England are represented in ACE's next national portfolio than ever before, according to our analysis.

We found 41 local authorities represented in the 2023/26 portfolio that were not included in the last round of funding.

Around half (21) of these local authorities are listed in ACE’s LUCP, while 15 feature in ACE’s Priority Places.

Only five local authorities included in the 2018/19 portfolio are missing from the next – Amber Valley, Guildford, South Norfolk, Swale and Welwyn Hatfield.

In three instances, this is because the NPO in that area listed a new local authority in its 2023/26 application.

When the next portfolio was announced, ACE Chief Executive Darren Henley said it was the funder’s “widest ever spread of investment across the country”.

“[This ensures] that many more people will have access to a wider choice of exceptional art, culture and creative opportunities on their doorsteps,” Henley added.