Reprieve granted for HMS Caroline

By Rebecca Black, PA

The HMS Caroline museum has won a reprieve following months of uncertainty over its future.

The Battle of Jutland veteran turned Belfast tourist attraction faced a major loss of income after closing during lockdown.

The National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) closed Caroline and other visitor facilities in Portsmouth, Gosport, Hartlepool and Yeovilton at the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

It says the loss of ticketing revenue during lockdown has left it with a £6.35 million budget shortfall.

While the Treasury has offered the museum an emergency grant to reopen its sites in England, in Northern Ireland its funding arrangement is with the devolved executive.

On Friday the NMRN confirmed that it has now come to a joint understanding with Stormont’s Department for Economy.

The terms will allow the museum to continue to operate until December 31, and jobs which were at risk of redundancy following the end of the furlough scheme are no longer considered to be at risk.

In a statement the museum said it regrets the “stress and uncertainty” which staff faced.

“However, negotiation was required around a number of clauses in the agreement to ensure that the staff, ship and museum were protected from financial uncertainty,” a spokesman said.

“Whilst the long-term operation of the ship is still yet to be confirmed, this interim agreement means that staff will remain employed until December 31 2020 when a decision about the future operation of the ship is hoped to be in place.

“The museum is relieved that it has been able to protect its incredible team at HMS Caroline from redundancy for the next eight weeks and wants to assure them that it continues to work exhaustively with DfE for a longer term solution that means that visitors will be able to once again climb on board this breathtaking 100-year-old survivor, the only surviving ship from the Battle of Jutland.”