What is Accreditation?
Accreditation is a set of national standards for UK museums. To achieve these standards museums must meet published requirements in how they care for and document their collections, how they are governed and managed, and on the information and services they offer to their users.
Accreditation is open to all museums that meet the 1998 Museum Association definition of a museum:
“Museums enable people to explore collections for inspiration, learning and enjoyment. They are institutions that collect, safeguard and make accessible artefacts and specimens, which they hold in trust for society.”
The Accreditation scheme is administered by Arts Council England, in partnership with Museums Galleries Scotland, Northern Ireland Museums Council and CyMAL.
The Accreditation scheme launched in 2004 is now closed to new applicants. A revised Standard was launched in October 2011 and opened to new applicants in December 2011.
Key Accreditation documents
All of these documents are available to download from the Arts Council England website
- The 2011 Accreditation Standard
- Guidance documents for each of the sections
- Collections Development Policy template (replacing Acquisition and Disposal Policy model template, updated 2010)
You’ll find more information about the Scheme, and answers to common questions, in this section.