Tailored Review of the National Heritage Memorial Fund

The review is a positive endorsement of our work and its breadth, and shows that HLF is a highly regarded organisation that has transformed communities and heritage across the UK.

Tailored reviews take place for all non-departmental public bodies every few years and DCMS consulted with our stakeholders to find out their views about how we are working.

DCMS concluded that we perform well as an organisation, with 79% of survey respondents seeing us as a ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ effective funding body.

Our staff are highly regarded as open, helpful and valuable sources of support, and our role as a UK-wide funder with a sole focus on heritage is highly valued.

The review notes that HLF is operating within the context of reducing National Lottery receipts and local authority funding.  As a result, it recommends that HLF should become more strategic, effective and efficient to ensure National Lottery funding continues to support the resilience of the heritage sector, benefits people and preserves heritage for future generations.

The review makes a series of recommendations for how we can further strengthen our effectiveness and  performance.  These include clarifying our priorities in our upcoming Strategic Framework, which we will be consulting on in the New Year, and strengthening our strategic partnerships with other funders, experts and Governments across the UK.

Many of the recommendations are already being implemented, including strengthening communications, data management, research and evaluation. We have published an implementation plan to deliver the recommendations.  We will continue to work hard with DCMS and other partners, to ensure maximum value for National Lottery players and the best possible support for the heritage sector.