Campaign Statement

On 29 June 2009, The National Archives (TNA) closed its doors to the public so that staff could be informed by members of the Management Board, including Chief Executive Natalie Ceeney, about proposals to reduce TNA’s overall operating costs by 10%. The justification for this savings exercise was that without change, TNA would be unable to operate on its existing budget in the current economic climate.

The main proposals that affect public service include:

• Reduction in opening times by 16% by closing TNA on Mondays from March 2010, though the financial savings are not clear
• Flatter management structure, including reduced number of specialist teams and voluntary redundancies to remove 35 posts, with a further 30+ saved through current vacancies not being filled.
• Displacement of specialist staff during the restructuring, with fewer posts available
• Introduction of car park charges

A linked proposal will see the removal of microform records from the open reading room, as they are now available online as pay-per-view. This exercise will not generate any financial savings.

Details of TNA’s presentation to the public about these proposals can be found here.

Our response to the issues raised by these proposals can be seen here, (PDF document, right click and Save As to download).

We welcome your comments on these proposals and our response. Please email them to our campaign co-ordinator Dr Nick Barratt at admin@action4archives.com

There are a few points to bring to your attention that TNA have not announced.

• This savings exercise is voluntary, not compulsory
• Statistics compiled by TNA to justify their online policy are misleading – they omit data showing increased document production and visitor numbers onsite, nor compare like with like when assessing what comprised a document download and an onsite production. This misinformation is being passed to the relevant Minister responsible for TNA
• Displaced staff members were only informed one hour before the meeting when the proposals were announced, and have expressed concern over the management style displayed during this process.
• Redundancies and restructuring is not likely to be uniform across the institution, and may affect front line services more than others
• At a time when staff are facing redundancy, according to the 2008-09 Annual Report Natalie Ceeney was awarded a £20,000 pay rise, equivalent to 16% of her basic salary – sufficient to save one post within her organisation.