Advice
About the UK Museum Accreditation Scheme
The Accreditation Standard is a handbook for running a successful museum, ensuring participants have essential policies, plans and procedures in place. The requirements cover three broad areas of museum activity: organisational health; collections; and users and their experiences.
The Scheme safeguards long-term access to public collections and provides a framework for ethical museum practice. It links directly with Spectrum – the UK collections management standard, and the Museums Association Code of Ethics.
Once Accredited, participants need to maintain the requirements of the Standard. The Scheme best supports organisational development when a virtuous circle of consultation, planning, review, improvements, and evaluation is in place.
The scheme is managed as a UK Partnership between Arts Council England (ACE), the Welsh Government, Museums Galleries Scotland and Northern Ireland Museums Council. It is run for museums and galleries of all sizes and types across the UK.
To find out more about the scheme, follow this link.
What are the benefits?
Gaining Accreditation is an endorsement. It’s the mark of a professionally run museum and an achievement to be proud of. It provides reassurance to funders, lenders, donors and other stakeholders that a museum has a solid foundation.
Accreditation helps with advocacy, particularly within larger organisations like local authorities, universities or professional bodies where museum activity is not the primary purpose of the organisation.
It also helps with accountability, providing reassurance to Board members in their oversight role.
The Scheme enables museums to assess their current performance, as well as supporting them to develop their services. There is an emphasis on forward planning for a successful and sustainable future.
For applicants and participants, the Accreditation assessment process represents a useful external check.
Who can apply?
Museum Accreditation is a flexible and inclusive Standard. It’s used by all types of public museums – from small volunteer run organisations to national institutions. The requirements are tailored according to museum size and type.
Accreditation is awarded to individual museum venues (a physical site/space/building), rather than collections.
The application process
The Accreditation Scheme has a two-stage application process. Applicants are first asked to complete an Eligibility Questionnaire. Speak to your Museum Development Adviser or Accreditation Adviser and determine if you meet the basic criteria. If your museum meets key eligibility criteria, you’ll gain Working Towards Accreditation status. You’ll then have up to three years to prepare and submit an Accreditation application.
If your application demonstrates that you meet the requirements of the Standard then Arts Council England will award Full Accreditation. Once Accredited, museums must keep ACE informed if they experience any change which impacts on their ability to meet the Standard.
Your Accreditation award lasts until your next review. This usually takes place every five years and is based on an assessment of your Accreditation Return.
You can find guidance, resources and templates to support you through each step of the process in the Accreditation Guidance Library.
MD North Accreditation Advice
Museum Development North aims to provide all museums in the North of England with advice and support towards achieving and maintaining ACE Accreditation.
Our Accreditation Advisers provide general Accreditation advice, to:
- Museums preparing a return
- Museums preparing to submit an Eligibility Questionnaire application
- Museums Working Towards Accreditation who are preparing to submit an application
- Museums recognised as Provisionally Accredited whilst addressing their Required Actions towards meeting the Accreditation Standard
- Museums continuing to work towards maintaining the Accreditation Standard in their everyday practice between Return submissions.
MD North Accreditation Advisers
From April 2024 to April 2025 our Accreditation Adviser Kelly Chapman will be on maternity leave. Accreditation advice is being provided by:
– Emma Chaplin is the first point of contact for accreditation support for museums in the North West, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. Contact Emma by email: emma@emmachaplin.co.uk.
– Heather Lomas is the first point of contact for museums located in the North East, North Yorkshire and East Yorkshire/North Lincolnshire. Contact Heather by email: office@heatherlomas.co.uk.
What support do we offer?
Workshops
MD North runs an Accreditation programme including includes refresher workshops on different aspects of the Accreditation standard. The programme also includes workshops specifically for museums preparing an Accreditation return, for Accreditation mentors and those wanting to find out more about becoming a mentor, and for museums considering applying for Accreditation for the first time. Find all the current training dates here.
These interactive online workshops are hosted by MD North’s Accreditation Advisers, Emma Chaplin and Heather Lomas.
There are 25 places on each workshop. Places are available for museums in the north of England which are not funded by central government. If there are more than two delegates from a single museum booked on a workshop we reserve the right to amend delegate lists to allow museums from the waiting list to participate.
The return schedule has been published up to May 2025. If your museum is not yet on the list, you do not need to wait for an invitation to begin preparing your return, especially if you know you have policies and plans that are due for a review or update soon. Museums are expected to maintain Accreditation standards between returns and these workshops provide a refresher to assess your organisation against the standard. See Arts Council England’s guidance in Meeting the Standard section in the Guidance Library.
One-to-One Support
You can contact us directly via email. Our Regional Accreditation Advisers work flexible days, therefore pre-arranging telephone/online meeting support is a good idea where possible.
On-site analysis
These will occur where necessary. Please contact the Accreditation Adviser or Museum Development Adviser in your area for information.