NPO transfer programme: 24 organisations relocate ahead of deadline

All but one of the organisations signed up for Arts Council England’s Transfer Programme completed their relocation out of London ahead of the 31 October deadline, the funding body has confirmed.

In total, ACE said 24 of 25 organisations have now moved their head offices outside of the capital. Previously, ACE had only announced 24 participants in the programme but told Arts Professional that the education organisation Poetry School had not been included on its previously published list.

An ACE spokesperson said Poetry School was initially unsuccessful in its November 2022 application to the transfer programme as part of the 2023-26 portfolio.

They said: “Poetry School then raised a complaint about this decision, which following an investigation process, we upheld. The application was re-entered into the assessment and decision-making process, with [ACE’s] National Council agreeing to bring them into the Transfer portfolio.

“While investigations into the complaint were ongoing, Poetry School received 6 months of transition funding (which they were eligible for as a previous NPO which made an unsuccessful application), and Poetry School then joined the portfolio from September 2023.”

The school’s Companies House filing for 2022-23 said that its relationship with ACE was “placed under strain” when it was dropped from the National Portfolio.

Poetry School’s accounts state it appealed on the grounds that ACE had not followed its own procedures in the assessment of the school’s application, citing “pressures, both political and economic” and said it was “the only organisation in the entire portfolio to be reinstated, thus securing this funding again for the next two years”.

The school, which offers online and in-person courses in London classrooms and regional centres across the UK, changed its registered address to Leeds in March this year.

Best interests

Barbara Eifler, chief executive of Investment Principles Support Organisation (IPSO) Making Music, one of the original 24 listed participants, confirmed to Arts Professional that it is the lone organisation on the programme that will not be relocating from London.

She said that the UK-wide membership and support organisation knew that when it applied for the transfer programme and signed the agreement, there would be a risk to its funding if it decided not to relocate out of London.

However, she added that Music Making chose to remain in London after undertaking a feasibility study – funded by ACE – that showed “clearly that financially and in terms of resources, such a move would not be in the best interests of [the] charity”.

As Arts Professional recently reported, the extension for the National Portfolio is opening this week, which means the 24 organisations that have relocated will be eligible to apply for funding for 2025/26 and 2026/27.

Once the extension process is complete in Spring 2025, ACE said it will be able to confirm the complete list of its National Portfolio running until 31 March 2027.

Levelling up

Announced in 2022, the transfer programme saw ACE ask National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) and IPSOs based in London to relocate to other regions in response to the then-Conservative government’s Levelling Up agenda and under instruction from DCMS to reallocate 15% of the total investment to organisations outside the capital.

Open to London-based arts organisations that had applied for funding from ACE’s 2023-26 Investment Programme; participants were given the option to ditch their bid and instead apply to an £8m a year fund to help them relocate to another part of the country.

ACE announced 24 NPOs and IPSOs as participants, receiving two years of business funding from April 2023 to March 2025.

To be eligible for further funding for 2025/26 via a ring-fenced Investment Programme specifically for transferring organisations, they were required to have established a main and registered base elsewhere in England by 31 October 2024.

Six months ago, around a quarter of organisations had officially announced moves outside the capital, including English Touring Opera, which transferred to Sheffield; Paines Plough, which went to Coventry; Theatre Centre, which relocated to Crawley; and British Youth Music Theatre, which headed to Leeds.

IPSOs Stagetext and Clore Leadership announced changes to their registered addresses to Colchester and Luton, respectively.

Other transfer programme NPOs to have changed registered address are: