While inflation reduced from double-digit highs in 2022–23, it remained at levels higher than experienced for many years, and interest rates in turn remained higher to control its effect. Events being witnessed in conflicts around the globe continued to disrupt international supply chains, affecting the performance of the UK economy and the prices paid for goods and services.
Inflation permeated all aspects of our finances, from project delivery, through to the prices paid for key ingredients in our cafés. This meant that we needed to work hard to deliver maximum benefit with the funding available, plan for use of our reserves in a careful manner, and to scope and phase projects to manage the effects of higher prices.
As price rises have hit families and households, so minimum wage levels have had to rise. The Trust’s cost base has therefore risen as these changes have been implemented. In April 2023, in agreement with Prospect our Trade Union, we invested an additional 7.5% in staff pay to ensure that our pay ranges remained competitive, and that staff were rewarded for their contribution during the year.
Memberships reduced by 117,000 to 2.62 million memberships (5.38 million members). Challenging external conditions in 2023 contributed to rising inflation, higher costs and a large drop in household discretionary spend. 28,000 member records were removed as the introduction of a new data management system enabled us to eliminate duplication and consolidate our records. The remaining loss of 89,000 memberships was largely due to a decrease in new recruits at a time when fewer households have felt able to commit to annual subscriptions. Families, which were hardest-hit by cost-of-living pressures, were the least likely to renew. Visitors were more likely to ‘pay on the day’, with those who pay on entry increasing 12% on the previous year.
We took action to sustain access to our places by issuing over a million free admission passes. The Trust has worked hard to make our places welcoming and inspiring. We are pleased to report a year-on-year increase in total visitor numbers of 5% (to over 25 million) and an increase in commercial income of £20m.
Support remained incredibly strong throughout 2023–24, which was a record year for fundraising income (at £117.9m). We are immensely grateful for this generous response to support our work. Income from our supporters, and healthy levels of funds and reserves enabled us to sustain project expenditure at near record levels. £184m was spent on projects at our properties, level with last year, which was an all-time record.
