The annual UK Archive Sector Survey is now open and will be closing on Friday 29 May 2026.
The National Archives delivers this comprehensive survey every year in partnership with National Records of Scotland, the Scottish Council on Archives, Welsh Government, Archives and Records Council Wales and Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
Purpose of the survey
The purpose of the Annual UK Archive Sector Survey is to gather evidence to help demonstrate the social and economic importance of archives to funders and stakeholders – locally, regionally, and nationally – and to provide archive services with data to enable them to benchmark their performance. The data we gather helps us, and other national bodies, advocate on behalf of archives to funders and stakeholders at local, regional, and national levels.
What’s in it for archives?
- Advocacy – evidence to make the case for your social and economic value in order to sustain investment
- Performance benchmarking – consistent data to compare your archives’ operational context
- Informing strategy – knowing your operational context will support your business planning
- Fundraising – the data can be used as evidence to support funding applications
Survey reports
After the survey closes, we’ll publish a report on our Findings page as well as the survey dataset, so that archives can benchmark their performance against other services.
Submitting your response
Take the survey (English version)
Take the survey (Welsh version)
Each archive service only needs to submit one response, even if they operate from multiple sites.
Word versions of the questionnaire are also available to download, to help you plan your answers. Please note, final responses must be made through the online survey links above.
Survey questions – English version (DOCX, 0.1 MB)
Survey questions – Welsh version (DOCX, 0.1 MB)
Thank you in advance for participating. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact simon.mckeon@nationalarchives.gov.uk.