The British Council currently have a huge £197 million debt to the government and are considering selling off some of their art collection to deal with the serious financial crisis they are facing. The British Council own almost 9,000 works of art by 20^th and 21^st century British artists, including David Hockney, Lucian Freud, and Tracey Emin. They have no fixed gallery space, with around a fifth of their art collection on display in British and international museums and galleries.

The council, who are the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations, took out an emergency loan of £250 million from the government during the Covid-19 pandemic. They are currently paying around £14 million a year on the commercial interest applied to the loan. They have requested the UK’s foreign, commonwealth, and development office (FCDO) relieve some of the pressure by reducing the loan repayments and have sought more government grant-in-aid funding from 2026 onwards. Despite this, they are still facing a serious financial crisis, with the government saying that it “remains committed to recovering the loan once [the council’s] finances allow.”

Around half of the 9,000 objects in their collection cannot be sold due to legal restrictions; they are protected by agreements put in place when artists donated their own work to the collection, under the agreement that they would not be sold. Scott McDonald, the chief executive of the British Council, has revealed that hundreds of staff would face losing their jobs, and the British Council might have to withdraw its presence from up to 40 countries. Further, McDonald told a parliamentary select committee that they would be “exploring what we can sell of the 50 percent that is not restricted.” He has also told The Guardian that the council offered the government its art collection in exchange for writing off the loan.

A spokesperson for the British Council has said that no firm decisions have been made about the sale of any artworks. They added that “a British Council that is in retreat is a blow to the UK in the competition for influence on the world stage. We are taking all steps necessary to secure the long-term financial sustainability of the British Council, including a review of our assets.” 

It remains to be seen whether the council will resort to selling art. The Guardian warned of the dangers of this, saying that selling the “family silver” is not the answer, and that “any sell-off of the British Council’s artworks would open the floodgates for cash-strapped local authorities to have similar conversations.”