Baroness Margaret Hodge has published a report outlining the findings and recommendations of her Arts Council England Review.
On 16 December 2025, Baroness Margaret Hodge published a report on her Arts Council England (ACE) Review, containing her observations and key recommendations for the future of the government-funded body dedicated to promoting the performing, visual and literary arts in England.
These recommendations include that the Government must retain the Arts Council of England, maintain and strengthen the Arm’s Length Principle and find innovative ways of responding urgently to the underfunding that has undermined the arts over the last decade. These include:
- Amending the theatre and orchestra tax relief to include the additional costs of touring
- Speeding up payments of tax relief to ease cashflow problems
- Enabling ACE to offer a wide range of financing options by having a trading arm
- Deferring the repayment of specific Culture Recovery Fund loans awarded to charitable organisations
- Devising a mechanism to bring money back to ACE when an NPO has produced a show that is a strong commercial success e.g. in royalties, or a percentage of profits
- Doubling the level of Gift Aid from £0.25 to £0.50 for shows, events and organisations that reach audiences outside London and the South East
- Introducing a new tax incentive akin to the French Aillagon Law to incentivise corporate giving outside London
- Creating a £250 million endowment fund for ACE that is structured in a way that levers philanthropic giving, with ACE raising £1 for every £1 they receive through the endowment
READ THE FULL LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS
Commenting on the Review of Arts Council England, Andrew Leveson Executive Director, Daniel Evans Co-Artistic Director and Tamara Harvey Co-Artistic Director said:
The Arts Council England Review is an opportunity to examine how the national development agency can bring world-class cultural excellence to every corner of the country while amplifying local voices in decision-making.
The independent review gathered evidence between February and June 2025 from a wide range of different cultural organisations and voices, including the Royal Shakespeare Company.
