The National Museum Accreditation Scheme (run by the Arts Council) sets nationally agreed standards for museums in the UK. There are currently just under 1,800 museums participating in the scheme, demonstrating their commitment to managing collections effectively for the enjoyment and benefit of users. The scheme is designed to show how a Museum manages and develops its collection for the enjoyment and benefit of the community. The scheme, which is renewable on a three-year basis, was established in 1988 has supported museums across the UK to focus on standards and identify areas for development. The scheme is regarded as one of the most innovative and effective developments in the museum sector. It has led the way in raising museum standards in the UK, and has been used as a model and source of inspiration for similar schemes overseas.
The scheme is administered by Arts Council England in partnership with CyMAL: Museum, Archives, Libraries Wales; Museums Galleries Scotland and the Northern Ireland Museum Council.
Accredited museums have a responsibility to keep their assessing organisation informed of any changes likely to impact on the museum's Accreditation status.
Updated Accreditation standard
People's expectations of museums have increased. Museums' reliance on volunteer support has also increased. Environmental and operational challenges continue to grow.
Accreditation has recently been developed to keep pace with the times, to help museums develop their resilience through effective forward planning, to balance aspects of collection management and to encourage all museums to be responsive to user needs and expectations.
The benefits of taking part in the Accreditation Scheme
Accreditation enables museums and governing bodies to assess their current performance, and it supports them in planning and developing their services. It helps with:
Performance
It is quality standard that serves as an authoritative benchmark for assessing performance, rewarding achievement and driving improvement.
Profile
It raises awareness and understanding of museums, building confidence and credibility both within the governing body and among the public.
People
It helps museums to improve their focus on meeting users' needs and interests and developing their workforce.
Partnerships
It helps museums to examine their services and to encourage joint working within and between organisations.
Planning
It helps with forward planning by formalising procedures and policies.
Patronage
It demonstrates that a museum has met a national standard, which strengthens applications for public and private funding and gives investors confidence in the organisation.
To contact the Accreditation Service email accreditation@artscouncil.org.uk.
You can use the accreditation to filter a search by selecting it in the Accreditations section of the Search List Filters.
Once, Scotland had thousands of “townships”, small farming communities where groups of families worked together. Then, two hundred and fifty years ago, the world began to change.
The townships were replaced by modern farms, crofting and large estates. In some places the process was known as the Highland Clearances. A few townships remained, but most of these had gone by 1900.
The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Museum is located in the King’s Old Building of Stirling Castle.
Housed in the former butter and meat markets, now also the Drill Hall, the museum was established in 1949. The collection is mainly Victorian and covers all aspects of life on the Lizard Peninsula. Additions in recent times include an Early Learning Area, art and costume galleries and a shop. New displays in 2009 included serpentine and wartime.
Bodmin Town Museum is situated on the lower ground floor of The Public Rooms which are on the site of Bodmin's Franciscan Friary.
The Museum houses a rich heritage of artifacts and collections that tell the story of Bodmin from the earliest times. Displays of material relating to social life, trade and transport, rocks and minerals, the World Wars, Cornish kitchen, Law and Order.
Geevor Tin Mine, dramatically situated on Cornwall’s Atlantic coast is the largest preserved mine site in the country and the gateway to the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site. Explore the many surface buildings with their magnificent mining machinery, get interactive in the Hard Rock museum and go underground into 19th century Wheal Mexico mine!
Bodelwyddan Castle has over 500 years of history to discover. We are an independant charitable trust and a regional partner of the National Portrait Gallery with a mixture of UK and National Collections to discover. Our free, state of the art multimedia guides will take you on a fascinating journey through this historic house and will bring its stories and characters to life.
The Bluebell Museum collects, preserves, interprets and makes accessible to the public, artefacts, history, customs, practice and skills relating specifically to the Bluebell Railway and generally to the railways in the South of England.
Blists Hill is an open-air museum, one of ten museums operated by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, built on a former industrial complex. It is one of the ten Ironbridge Gorge Museums. Enjoy a truly memorable day out at this recreated Victorian Town. An enjoyable way for all ages to discover more about Victorian life.
Nobody ever forgets their first sight of Blickling. The breath-taking red-brick mansion and ancient yew hedges sit at the heart of a magnificent garden and historic park in the beautiful Bure meadows.
The story of the estate unfolds over a thousand years. The landscape with its hedges and narrow tree-lined lanes has changed little over the centuries and is quintessentially Norfolk.
Come and see our wonderful collection of fashions dating from the early 18th century to the 1970's. Lime Tree House is a beautiful Georgian house built by John and William Bastard after the great fire of Blandford in 1731.
Schools
Children's Activities
The timber-framed house of Blakesley Hall was built in 1590 by Richard Smalbroke, a member of one of Birmingham’s leading merchant families. More than 400 years later, beautiful Blakesley is still a haven; secluded from the avenues of modern houses that lie beyond its gates. Admission charges apply to the Hall only.
The Abertillery and District Museum is run by the volunteers of Abertillery and District Museum Society. The Abertillery and District Museum originally opened on the 13th of January 1972 on the ground-floor of Abertillery library.
This new state of art musuem is managed by Blaina Heritage Action Group. The museum displays the heritage and history of Blaina and the local area.
Blackwell is an internationally important icon of Arts and Crafts architecture. Built as a late Victorian holiday home for Manchester industrialist and Mayor Sir Edward Holt, it is a stunning example of the social mobility and artistic response to the Industrial Revolution.
As one of the first purpose built free museums to open outside of London in 1874, Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery houses a rich and fascinating collection covering fine art, decorative art, Egyptology, coins, manuscripts, natural history, social history and South Asia.
The original plan for the route was for the line to run from the Shrewsbury and Hereford line at Craven Arms to join what eventually became the Cambrian Railway near Montgomery, with a short branch to Bishop’s Castle.
The Bishop’s Stortford Museum is housed in the original Victorian building which was the birthplace of Cecil Rhodes (1853 – 1902), financier and founder of diamond company De Beers. The museum is a local landmark and receives vistiors from all over the world many of whom come to see the unique collection of artefacts about Rhodes and his life.
26 acres of open-air museum, comprising village, live period craft, underground mining experience and tram rides, plus plenty more. Our award-winning corner of the West Midlands is now one of the finest and largest museums in the United Kingdom.
This charming cottage, dating from 1502, is the oldest domestic building in the market town of Dereham. It houses local history and archaeology displays, including archive photos of Dereham and still has its authentic Victorian kitchen.
An 18th century cottage which was the boyhood home of Francis Asbury, the first American Methodist Bishop. Asbury is virtually unknown in Britain but has his own statue on the Capitol in Washington. He is considered important in the founding of an independent American nation.
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG) first opened in 1885. It is housed in a Grade II* listed city centre landmark building. There are over 40 galleries to explore that display art, applied art, social history, archaeology and ethnography:
An atmospheric glimpse into the lives of the ordinary people who helped make Birmingham an extraordinary city.
On a fascinating guided tour, step back in time at Birmingham's last surviving court of back to backs; houses built literally back-to-back around a communal courtyard.
The history of Birkenhead goes back beyond Victorian years. The oldest standing building on Merseyside, Birkenhead Priory encapsulates so much of the town's history within a small, enclosed site. Founded in 1150, the monks of this Benedictine monastery looked after travellers for nearly 400 years and supervised the first regulated 'Ferry 'cross the Mersey'.
The Bushcraft Company offer residential school trips with a difference, taking students into the wild and giving them real back-to-nature experiences they will never forget.
A 15-year-old boy fell 60ft over the edge of a cliff whilst on a geography school trip, miraculously only suffering minor injuries.