Please sign our petition urging Stoke on Trent City Council to transfer its museums to a Charitable Trust, to give them the best possible chance of a viable and successful future.

The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery and the Gladstone Pottery Museum play a vital role in the life of the people of Stoke on Trent. They contribute to a sense of place, celebrating the skills of local people and the history and landscape of the Potteries, providing a ‘memory bank’ for the city and fostering a sense of local pride. The museums hold Designated collections of regional, national and international significance.  They are trusted public spaces, offering opportunities for learning, participation and enjoyment, to people of all ages and backgrounds. Both museums are past winners of the Museum of the Year award, but have faced severe cutbacks during recent years.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council has decided to make further savings by moving its Leisure Service and Museums out to a Community Interest Company (CIC) or a Charitable Trust, either separately or together.

Leisure Services and Museums are very different from each other, with very different audiences, needs and aims. Unlike the Leisure Service, Museums have their emphasis on education, families, serving the local communities and heritage tourism. They would be best served as separate organisations.

A Charitable Trust is suitable for organisations that can attract money, in the form of donations, grants, bequests – this fits the Museum service.

Charities pay less tax and can claim Gift Aid directly from HMRC; Charities get mandatory 80% business rate rebate; Trustees of the Charity are not paid and overall Charities have a good, positive image with the public and donors. Charities have tight regulation to make sure that money is spent on the charity’s objectives and that there is transparent accountability.

A CIC is intended for an organisation that has a social purpose, such as health and fitness, but will earn a significant proportion of its income from trading, e.g. entrance fees, membership, car parks – this fits Leisure Services.

CICs are less regulated and less transparent than charities; they can pay their directors a salary and do not have to make all of their proceedings public, while a CIC by share can offer shares to outside third parties and can decide to issue a share dividend.

No large museum service is a CIC. Only small museums, which do not depend on grants from major charities, charitable donors and philanthropy for their income, have registered as CICs. Some have already failed.

Please sign now.

Thank you for your support.