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The new archives accreditation standard is currently being developed in partnership with archives sector stakeholders across the UK.

Accreditation schemes encourage and recognise excellence by certificating the achievement of good professional practice. The new standard will provide a framework for benchmarking performance and support development planning. It is intended to replace a number of existing schemes, including The National Archives' Standard for Record Repositories and self assessment for local authority archives.

In a time of exceptional financial constraint and competition for resources, the need for archives to demonstrate their value robustly and consistently has never been greater. Archives accreditation will help organisations become more adaptable, resilient and sustainable by embedding a culture of sector-led continuous improvement, focusing on the needs of users and local communities and on producing best value for money.

Archives accreditation is central to the Archives for the 21st Century priority to develop more effective services and increase sustainability within the sector.

Progress to date

The archives sector in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland has come together to progress proposals for a new accreditation scheme for archive-holding organisations across the UK. There has been a considerable amount of preparation work carried out to date.

In April 2010 the Museums Libraries and Archives Council and The National Archives commissioned a scoping study to investigate possible models, delivery mechanisms and costs for a new accreditation scheme. The second phase, which explored development options and an overall framework for the scheme, was completed in March 2011.

Writing and piloting the scheme will take place during 2011-2013. The archives sector will play a central role in the creation and testing of the scheme.

Funding for the next two phases has been secured by The National Archives with support from the Welsh Government − CyMAL, National Records of Scotland and the Scottish Council on Archives.  

  • November 2011 − May 2012: Stage 3: co-creation (development of standard and requirements)
  • July − December 2012 − Stage 4: Piloting

The following steps of co-creation, are complete:

  • November-December 2011:
    • introducing the accreditation development process
    • open invitation for volunteers from all types of archives and archives stakeholders across the UK to contribute their expertise and drive the participation in the co-creation
  • January/February 2012:
    • introductory workshops for the lead volunteers outlining progress to date and the online co-creation process
    • open webinar to introduce the online process
  • February 2012-May 2012:

An archives accreditation workstream has been established to help guide the development process. It is made up of representatives from the strategic organisations and professional bodies for archives across the four nations. The partner bodies include:

  • The National Archives
  • Arts Council England
  • Welsh Assembly Government through its CyMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales division
  • National Records Scotland
  • The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
  • The Archives and Records Association
  • The Archives and Records Council Wales
  • The Scottish Council on Archives

Current activity

The current phase of archives accreditation development is the sector-led development of the standard to meet the needs of archives and their users. This co-creation process will result in a practical working scheme that delivers support and encourages development where it is most wanted and needed. The co-creation timetable still to be completed is as follows:

Summer 2012

  • Finalise pilot standard
  • Recruit cross-section of archives
  • Begin piloting the scheme

The process has been designed to ensure that all types of archives and archives stakeholders through out the UK can actively participate in the design of the standard.

You will find further information and updates on this page and on Twitter: #archivesaccreditn

The project team will also continue to brief stakeholder groups on progress. Please do get in touch if you would like us to speak with your stakeholders.

For further information about this, and any other aspect of the accreditation development process, see our FAQs and update below or contact Archives Sector Development.

February Archives Accreditation Scheme (PDF, 0.05Mb)

Archives Accreditation Scheme FAQs (PDF, 0.07Mb)

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