The Museum's founding legislation is the National Maritime Museum Act 1934 that established a Board of Trustees, who are a statutory corporation by the name of the Trustees of the National Maritime Museum and which has the general management and control of the Museum.
Section 7 of the Act establishes the Trustees of the National Maritime Museum as an exempt charity and therefore the Trustees also act in accordance with the requirements of charity law.
The 1934 Act was amended by the National Maritime Museum Act of 1989 and the Museums and Galleries Act of 1992.
The Museum generates some 42% of its income from its trading activity, donations and sponsorship and it also receives funding from the taxpayer via Grant-in-Aid through the Department for Culture Media and Sport.
The Grant-in-Aid is provided by Parliament to enable the Board of Trustees to carry out the objectives set out in the original and amended Acts. The practices and procedures of the Museum comply with the requirements of the Management Agreement which defines and manages its status as an Arm's Length Body, agreed with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in June 2014, and HM Treasury's ‘Managing Public Money’ and the conditions therein in relation to the Grant-in-Aid and public funds.
Royal Museums Greenwich is the collective brand name for the Museum's four sites: the National Maritime Museum, the Queen's House, the Cutty Sark and the Royal Observatory.
Acts of Parliament and statutory instruments
Details of all legislation that applies to the establishment and running of the Museum:
The Act of Parliament that founded the National Maritime Museum.
The Act of Parliament that transferred the buildings and estate to the National Maritime Museum’s trustees.
An Act of Parliament that revised certain provisions of the 1934 Act relating to accounting procedures and responsibility for appointments.
The National Maritime Museum receives funding directly from the Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport (DCMS). This statement details matters of governance, responsibilities and accountability between the two organisations.
– This memorandum summarises the financial and management controls that the National Maritime Museum applies to safeguard the public funds provided by the DCMS.
Find out more about our funding
Public Sector Information (PSI)
Documents required under the Public Sector Information Directive 2015: