Imperial War Museum Annual Report and Accounts 2019-20 Presented to Parliament pursuant to section 9(8) Museums and Galleries Act 1992 Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on 7 October 2020 HC 782 © Crown copyright 2020 This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3. Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. This publication is available at: www.gov.uk/official-documents. Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at [email protected] ISBN 978-1-5286-1861-8 CCS0320330174 10/20 Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum Printed in the UK by the APS Group on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office 2 Contents Page Annual Report 1. Introduction 4 2. Strategic Objectives 5 3. Achievements and Performance 6 4. Plans for Future Periods 23 5. Financial Review 28 6. Staff Report 31 7. Environmental Sustainability Report 35 8. Reference and Administrative Details of the Charity, 42 the Trustees and Advisers 9. Remuneration Report 47 10. Statement of Trustees’ and Director-General’s Responsibilities 53 11. Governance Statement 54 The Certificate and Report of the Comptroller and Auditor 69 General to the Houses of Parliament Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities 73 The Statement of Financial Activities 74 Consolidated and Museum Balance Sheets 75 Consolidated Cash Flow Statement 76 Notes to the financial statements 77 3 1. Introduction Who we are IWM is a global authority on conflict and its impact on people’s lives. We collect objects and stories that give an insight into people’s experiences of war, we preserve them for future generations and we bring them to today’s audiences in the most powerful way possible at our five branches (IWM London, IWM North, IWM Duxford, Churchill War Rooms and HMS Belfast) and across our digital channels. By giving a platform to these stories, we aim to help people understand why we go to war and the effect that conflict has on people’s lives. Our vision Using the personal stories and experiences in our unique collections, our objective is to help people, as global citizens, make sense of an increasingly unpredictable world. We do this, in part, by helping people have a deeper understanding of the connections between past conflict and the contemporary world. This is about exploring the way war has shaped the local and the global, about appreciating diverse views and about challenging our audiences to become ready to engage in difficult decisions for themselves, their communities and their world. Our vision is to be a leader in developing and communicating a deeper understanding of the causes, course and consequences of war. What we stand for As an organisation we are guided by four important values. We aim to be: ▪ Courageous: we are confident and have the courage to challenge the established wisdom, championing debate and innovative approaches ▪ Authoritative: our deep and dynamic knowledge of our rich collections makes us the first port of call on the history of modern conflict and sets standards of excellence in everything we do ▪ Relevant: we strive to make everything we do relevant to contemporary society, while maintaining a balanced and impartial point of view ▪ Empathetic: we are sensitive to people’s emotions, respecting different points of view and the deep significance of our collections 4 2. Strategic Objectives We aim to: ▪ Increase our financial sustainability We will secure our long-term financial viability and create an entrepreneurial and dynamic working culture. As a result, we will build our income and financial flexibility so that we can continue to invest in our offer. We will improve our financial performance, build our resilience and strengthen IWM as a result. ▪ Prioritise our audiences We will create excellent, inspiring and relevant visitor and learning experiences. As a result, people will have a deeper understanding of the causes, course and consequences of war and its impact on all of our lives. We pride ourselves on the excellent customer service we will provide across all of our work. ▪ Deliver effective stewardship of our collections We will develop and care for our collections through effective management, building expertise, maximising access and improving storage. As a result, we will ensure our collections and knowledge remain relevant and accessible for audiences now and for generations to come, not least, by maintaining the momentum around reviewing and developing our collection. ▪ Build our brand We will build our reputation as a global authority and our ability to deliver our purpose and vision by providing high quality products, services and experiences and communicating consistently in everything that we do. The strength of our brand is directly related to the scale of impact we are able to achieve. 5 3. Achievements and Performance 3.1 Meeting our strategic objectives The Corporate Plan activities in 2019-20 went largely to plan, until the disruption caused by COVID-19 and the subsequent closure of all of our branches on 17 March 2020. The high-profile projects that IWM are delivering are designed to have a deep impact on our audiences, raise our profile and help us build our financial sustainability and viability over the long-term. Over the course of the year we have largely met our strategic objectives through the following progression of work and achievements: 3.1.1 Increasing our financial sustainability IWM masterplan, Transforming IWM London Phase 2 Over the past year, we have created the building blocks of our future by investing in key transformation projects across the organisation. Work continued on our Transforming IWM London Phase 2 project which will deliver our new Second World War and Holocaust Galleries. Composed of six individual spaces that will tell the story of the conflict chronologically, exploring its global scale and impact upon people and communities, the new galleries will reveal how whole societies were drawn into the war through mobilization, direct attack and occupation. We will be the first museum in the world to connect Second World War with Holocaust galleries. In making this connection, a 783kg V-1 flying bomb will be suspended between the two new galleries, presenting an arresting symbol of how the Holocaust and the Second World War are interconnected. Our Accommodation Strategy will enable us to convert office space into public facing galleries at IWM London, while creating new, open plan working environments for our staff. The new Park Side building, opening its doors in 2020, will provide a collaborative working environment for our creative programming teams. Commercial performance We have restructured our Commercial team to build a fulfilment function to facilitate the addition of a Commercial Events, Experiences and Catering team and to migrate the Visitor Experience team into Commercial enterprises. We want to engage better with our audiences and have been implementing a new customer relationship management (CRM) system, which is key to permitting us to stay in touch and communicate better with our members, visitors and supporters. This work continues into 2020. Our commercial events were paused and cafes were shut during the COVID-19 closure, but worked continued to ensure recovery plans were in place. Digital transformation Work continued on implementing our Digital Transformation Strategy which modernises our business operation and supports our commercial development. In addition to the CRM work another vital element of the transformation programme is the replacement of legacy systems with infrastructure that supports business aspirations. This progressed with the implementation of effective middleware. Managing our estates and infrastructure Underpinning our Estate Strategy is IWM’s Facilities Management Strategy, which initially 6 will implement our asset management plan. This ensures that maintenance and operational priorities are most effectively prioritised, coordinated and that projects are delivered within budget and timeframes. Maintaining our estate is vital to our financial sustainability and ensures that our audiences and staff visit and work in a safe, well maintained environment. Our Estate Strategy for 2019-24 supports IWM’s purpose and strategic objectives. The strategy focuses on proactively maximising opportunities for the use of our estate. This will be achieved through a risk informed approach. As our estate comprises assets at every level, an Asset Management Plan (AMP) methodology is being adopted in line with the approach favoured by the Cabinet Office’s Office for Government Property. Key to its success is understanding the risks manifested by the lifecycle, maintenance or replacement backlog and leveraging our estate to exploit opportunities for increased commercial operations. In the near future this includes ventures such as the hotel project at IWM Duxford and leasing out the London All Saints building as we complete our new Park Side staff accommodation. We enacted our business continuity plan to react to COVID-19 and keep our collection safe and secure, when we had to shut our doors. IWM Duxford Airfield operation The team at IWM Duxford continues to widen the impact and operation of our airfield services. Improved airfield markings had a positive impact on providing better runway approach angles and becoming an airfield locator aid. Work has commenced to enable an upgrade to the weather equipment too. A wooden boundary fence has now been installed on the southern boundary of the airfield, which will help to mitigate public infringements as there is now a clear delineation of the licensed boundary. We continued with our airfield lighting project and planning permission has been granted by the local authorities, but the project has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.