The Norfolk Record Office (NRO) has balanced its budget for 2025-26 but will use £25,000 from its reserves to help plug a gap in the 2026-27 financial year, County Archivist Gary Tuson told the Norfolk Records Committee on 24 April 2026.

The sum represents the NRO's contribution towards Norfolk County Council's broader savings target. Committee members expressed alarm that the drawdown amounts to almost 30% of the NRO's total reserves, with one member describing it as a potentially unsustainable level.

Tuson said the use of reserves was intended as a one-off measure, with the £25,000 expected to be returned to the NRO's budget in 2027-28. He acknowledged the NRO would need either to increase income or find equivalent savings to cover the shortfall in the intervening period.

Members pressed for clarity on the medium-term financial picture. Tuson noted that the wider outlook was a departmental issue across the whole of Norfolk County Council rather than specific to the archive service.

A committee member put on record formal concern that drawing on reserves could become a recurring pattern given the council's overall financial position. Another warned that if further savings were demanded, the NRO risked losing specialist staff whose expertise was irreplaceable — a risk already flagged on the service's own risk register.

The committee also noted that the NRO has already reduced the number of days its searchroom is open without a prior booking. Tuson said the searchroom is currently operating at capacity, and any further cuts would have a detrimental effect on the service available to the public.

The committee voted to note the budget report and the risk management update.