Arts Council England Refreshes 2025 Guidance: What NPOs Must Update

Arts Council England (ACE) has refreshed its 2025 funding and reporting guidance for National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) and Investment Principles Support Organisations. Here’s what to change before your next submission.

TL;DR

ACE now requires quarterly narrative updates tied to Investment Principles self-assessments from April 2025.
Equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) metrics align with the refreshed Delivery Plan 2024-26.
Update your Crafty evidence bank, risk register, and trust-based reporting toolkit to match the new expectations.

What changed in ACE’s 2025 guidance?

ACE’s October 2024 update reflects the midpoint review of its Delivery Plan. Key new requirements include:

Quarterly narrative updates linking programme activity to the four Investment Principles.
Mandatory environmental impact metrics aligned with Julie’s Bicycle reporting.
Reworked templates for financial resilience and audience development plans.

How do reporting requirements evolve?

ACE expects integrated narrative and data submissions every quarter from April 2025. The change supports transparent monitoring and faster support when organisations face financial pressure.

What should arts organisations update now?

Focus on three updates:

Align your evidence bank with ACE’s new Investment Principles categories.
Refresh storyboards and modules in the modular answer library to reflect EDI and environmental priorities.
Update the reporting toolkit to capture community voice and learning logs demanded by ACE.

Helpful resources and next steps

Download ACE’s updated guidance documents, watch the October 2024 webinar replay, and set up a Crafty workflow for quarterly reporting.

Action plan

Audit your current ACE reporting pack against new templates.
Train teams on capturing qualitative learning stories.
Configure Crafty for quarterly ACE submissions with updated prompts and evidence.