Annual report and accounts 2025–26

Read the Annual Report

We are a non-ministerial government department, and the official archive and publisher for the UK Government, and for England and Wales. We are the guardians of more than 1,000 years of iconic national documents.

We are expert advisers in information and records management and are a cultural, academic and heritage institution. We fulfil a leadership role for the archive sector and work to secure the future of physical and digital records.

During 2025-26 we completed a number of long-term projects and reached new audiences with innovative approaches. Our aims fell into three main categories: building the value of our collection, sustaining value through custodianship and connecting people to our collections.

Significant achievements include welcoming a record number of visitors to our site thanks to a varied programme including our groundbreaking exhibition MI5: Official Secrets. We also finalised the relocation of physical records from Parliament’s Archive Collections and extended our in-person school workshop offering beyond southeast England for the first time.

Collection

• We finalised the relocation of physical records from Parliament’s Archive Collections. This year, over 4 linear kilometres of historical documents were transported from the Palace of Westminster’s Victoria Tower to our repositories. Approximately 12 linear kilometres of physical records have been transported in total. We also published the first segment of the collection – the Beaverbrook Library Collection and Papers – onto our online catalogue. The entire collection should be publicly available by summer 2026.
• During the 2025-26 period, we received our first transfer of public inquiry records using our Transfer Digital Records (TDR) service. The use of TDR meant that records from the Dawn Sturgess Inquiry were published on the same day they were received. We also finished publishing records from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. It remains the largest single digital transfer we have ever received (over half a million records).
• In February 2026 we launched our bespoke digital access service, Request a Military Service Record (RAMSR). Users can now ask The National Archives to search for the military service record of someone who served in the British Armed Forces after 1918 and who was born before 1940. The service was created to meet the significant rise in demand for public access to these records. It has proved very popular with 90% of users surveyed stating they were either 'very satisfied' or 'satisfied' with the service.

Custodianship

• We completed refurbishment work on our heritage science laboratory, part of the UK’s Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) programme. The updates to our facilities mean we can now use a variety of non-invasive techniques to examine our collection in unprecedented detail. Through RICHeS we have also supported the new Heritage Science Data Service (HSDS), a centralised online repository which helps those in the heritage sector better store, share and explore data.
• Work on our window replacement project was completed this year. The windows were installed on-time and within budget and will allow us to better manage conditions in the repositories and make energy savings.
• The use of artificial intelligence (AI) at The National Archives was a focus this year. We created an AI steering group to explore how emerging technologies might be used to support our work. We also launched our Keeling Schedule service in beta to select users across government. Creating a Keeling Schedule – a version of current legislation that shows how it might be affected by prospective amendments – is a time-consuming task that requires a skilled official to manually update existing legislation. Our tool uses generative AI to create a version of the legislation with changes marked up, making the process much more efficient.

Connection

• Our MI5: Official Secrets exhibition ran from April to November 2025 and became our most popular exhibition to date. Almost 55,000 people came to view a treasure-trove of documents and artefacts from the Security Service’s 115-year history such as the briefcase of infamous Cambridge Five spy Guy Burgess. We also held a number of events in conjunction with the exhibition, including a sold-out talk by Slough House author Mick Herron. We were delighted to see our hard work recognised when MI5: Official Secrets won Temporary or Touring Exhibition of the Year (Budget more than £80,000) at the 2026 Museums + Heritage Awards.
• Love Letters opened in January 2026 and featured correspondence from notable figures such as Oscar Wilde and Jane Austen. The exhibition attracted over 11,000 visitors by year end.
• Our Happy and Glorious display showcased artwork commissioned for the Coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Eight artists used a variety of mediums to create pieces that captured different perspectives on the event. Visitors to the display were also given the rare opportunity to see the oldest and most recent coronation rolls in our collection (King Edward II and His Majesty King Charles III’s respectively).
• Collaboration was a key component of our education offering during 2025-26. We launched an ambitious partnership with North East Museums to offer workshops in northeast England. For the first time we have been able to widen our in-person education offering beyond southeast England. On site, we worked with Aardman Academy to create a pilot workshop in which 11–14-year-olds were able to make stop-motion animations inspired by documents held in our repositories. In total, over 26,000 students were able to engage with our collection through the multiple workshops we offered on site, off site and online.

Archive Sector and Research

• The Partnership for Atlantic Slavery Scholarship, Archiving and Global Exchange (PASSAGE) project saw its first year of delivery. It is funded by a £1 million grant from the Lloyd’s Register Foundation and examines the history of transatlantic slavery, ensuring communities affected by the legacies of enslavement play a leading role in the research. Following discussions with archivists and heritage professionals about the research challenges they face, £450,000 of funding was earmarked for 15 projects across five countries: Cameroon, Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Barbados. Alongside this international programme, we have been undertaking research into the records in our collection which relate to this period. So far, 4,800 new record descriptions have been added to our online catalogue and stories of rebellions aboard slave ships and the lives of free black people in West Africa and Great Britain have been shared through blog posts and academic seminars.
• In 2025-26 we received ministerial approval for the government’s new vision for the archive sector in England. This was the result of extensive consultation with archive professionals, stakeholders and users, and it will guide our leadership of the sector. We continue to work with archives across the country, striving to instil best practices. This year we provided 59 courses and events for archive professionals in a variety of areas. Building up knowledge of digital preservation has been a particular focus as we launched guidance on using digital asset registers and saw more than 400 new learners complete our ‘Novice to Know-How’ digital preservation training.
• We won several major grants to support our work this year, including four projects of more than £250,000. Our in-year grant income was £3.75 million, a 75% increase on the previous financial year. The total value of our grant portfolio was £14.5 million at year end across 29 live projects. We also awarded 116 grants to the galleries, libraries, archives and museums sectors worth £1.93 million, a 110% increase on 2024-25.

Appendices

Core financial tables 2025-26

Summary of public records transmitted to The National Archives 2025–26

This report is produced annually. It provides a summary of the public records transmitted to The National Archives from various sources. It gives a brief description for each piece, including the dates covered.

Exercise of delegated powers conferred on the Secretary of State by the Public Records Act 1958

This report is produced annually. It gives details on how The National Archives has exercised particular powers delegated to our Chief Executive and Keeper by the Secretary of State. These documents provide information on:

• Approval given for the transfer of public records between The National Archives and places of deposit, in either direction.
• The appointment of approved places of deposit for public records with specific local relevance or particular specialist and administrative requirements, which are held outside The National Archives.
• Approval given for the presentation of public records that have not been selected for permanent preservation at The National Archives to other appropriate bodies.

Accounting Officer System Statement

Reports and accounts in the UK Government Web Archive

Reports from previous years can be viewed in the UK Government Web Archive.