Unions walked out at four V&A sites in September. The museum points to rising costs and a real-terms cut in government funding.
The Victoria and Albert Museum plans to offer staff a voluntary exit scheme, following strikes at several of its London sites in a dispute over pay and working conditions.
Members of the PCS and Prospect unions walked out at the South Kensington museum on 25 and 26 September. Union members at Young V&A and at the two V&A East sites, the Storehouse and the Museum, had already struck on 4 and 5 September. Much of their concern was about conditions at the Stratford storehouse, a site that has been running since last spring.
A V&A spokesperson said inflation and economic uncertainty had pushed up running costs, while visitors were spending less. Government support continues, the spokesperson added, but settlements below the rate of inflation mean funding will fall in real terms over the next few years.
According to its annual report, the museum received £59.9m in government grant-in-aid for 2025-26, £3.7m more than the year before. On top of that core funding, the Public Bodies Infrastructure Fund awarded £5.2m to protect the South Kensington and Young V&A sites. PCS has claimed the museum expects operating deficits totalling £19m by 2030. The V&A has not confirmed that figure.
The spokesperson said the V&A strategy for 2026 to 2030 takes a cautious approach to finances, and that the museum is looking at a wide range of savings, the voluntary exit scheme among them. Any member of staff can apply. The strategy also sets out plans to simplify how the museum operates, partly by using AI.
In a statement on 22 September, PCS challenged figures from the V&A director, Tristram Hunt. He had said staff would receive an average rise of 4.18%, but the union said “the vast majority of staff, aside from the lowest paid, are being offered 3.25%”. PCS also disputed his claim that the directorate had been in regular contact with the unions.
The museum says it has been negotiating with the unions since February. The spokesperson said the latest offer averages 4.18%, with 6.9% for the lowest-paid staff. It also raises the bank holiday pay rate to 1.5 and comes with a bonus scheme, plus subsidised food at all sites. “We deeply regret that the trade unions voted for strike action,” the spokesperson said.
The museum says any member of staff can apply.
A spokesperson said inflation and economic uncertainty had raised running costs, visitors were spending less and government funding is falling in real terms.
The museum says its offer averages 4.18%, with 6.9% for the lowest paid. PCS says most staff, apart from the lowest paid, are being offered 3.25%.
The stage musical based on the 2014 film, about lesbian and gay activists who raised money for striking Welsh miners, comes to London after two sold-out…
The canalside park opened in 1960 on land once covered by a white lead factory and its terraced streets. It took until the late 1970s to…
A 27-metre batik hangs above the nave of St Cyprian's in the Bagri Foundation's first Springboard show, the artist's debut in the UK.
Magritte's paintings hang beside work by more than 40 other artists, from a Jeff Koons locomotive to a bird with a woman's face.
We use strictly necessary cookies to run the site and to remember this choice. With your permission we would also use analytics cookies, to count visits and see which stories are read, and advertising cookies, so the adverts that pay for How2London can be shown and measured. You can accept all, reject all, or choose for yourself. Read our cookie policy and privacy policy.
Needed for the site to work and to remember your cookie choice. Always on, no consent required.
Google Analytics 4 counts visits and shows which stories are read. Without consent it runs without cookies.
Google AdSense cookies, used to show and measure adverts. Our own How2London banners need no cookies and are shown either way.
