Norfolk Record Office to draw £25,000 from reserves in 2026-27 budget
Norfolk County Council's proposed 2026-27 budget includes a one-off measure requiring the Norfolk Record Office to draw £25,000 from its reserves. The committee was told this will not affect day-to-day services, and the NRO is on track to balance its budget for 2025-26.
The Norfolk Record Office (NRO) is on course to end the 2025-26 financial year with a balanced budget, the Norfolk Records Committee heard on 6 February 2026.
Norfolk County Council's proposed budget for 2026-27 includes a provision for the NRO to draw £25,000 from its reserves as a one-off saving. County Archivist Gary Tuson told the committee this movement would have no effect on the NRO's day-to-day services. The full council is due to vote on the 2026-27 budget at its meeting on Tuesday 17 February.
How the NRO balanced its books
The committee heard that the NRO had previously capitalised some staff costs — a practice that began around 2020-21 in response to severe budget pressures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Projects running over roughly four years were capitalised, helping to retain staff during that period. That capitalisation has now been redirected into the revenue budget, which helped balance the 2025-26 accounts and avoided what officers described as a potential "cliff edge" for the service.
Some of the NRO's reserves have also recently been spent on materials and storage boxes to prepare for additional archive storage capacity.
Grant income flagged as a risk
The committee heard that approximately 40% of the NRO's income comes from grants and other external sources. Concern was raised that this posed a risk, both because of the unpredictable nature of grant funding and because applying for grants places significant demands on NRO staff, drawing them away from frontline work.
The County Archivist acknowledged this, noting that grants operate on a cyclical basis. He highlighted that a recent change in National Archives funding — linked to a 2013 amendment to the Public Records Act 1958 that shortened the rule for depositing public records from 30 years to 20 years — had seen transition-period grants to record offices come to an end, reducing a previous source of income.
Approximately £250,000 was recently received from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for the Hall Marks project, which is separately reported.
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