The Museums Association Has Published Updated Salary Guidelines For Museums
The guidelines are intended as a practical resource for employers, employees and funders in the museum sector when considering starting salaries for posts. The guidelines have been produced with information gathered from an independent report commissioned by the MA with support from Arts Council England.
The Pay in Museums report was produced by Incomes Data Research based on a survey of over 170 museums’ pay scales conducted in early 2017, and a review of benchmarked salaries for equivalent roles in other sectors. The survey respondents were a representative group of museums in terms of size, type and location in the UK.
The report found that salaries in the museums sector lag behind those of equivalent roles in other sectors by an average of 7%, with assistant level curatorial roles in the worst position at 25% behind equivalent roles in other sectors. The only area paying better than equivalent roles in other sectors was front of house and security staff.
In response to AIM’s enquiry, the MA provided further information about the salaries for Director level roles, where the examples given in the Guidelines do not refer to independent museum directors.
For managers or directors of single site museums the overall median salary is £45,000, however the median varies considerably by type of museum. The median for a local authority museum manager is approximately £36,000. For the director of an independent museum the median rises to £46,700 and for the director of a single-site ex-LA museum trust it is £52,000.
The full report can be found here: Salary Guidelines