Controversial plans dubbed ‘worst idea in the world’ would have stopped producers from applying for new grants before current projects end

Arts Council England has shelved its controversial plan to stop producers from applying for new funding before their current project is over after it was dubbed “the worst idea in the world”.

Figures from the sector told the Guardian that the significant change to the way artists and companies access grants would have plunged organisations into “crisis” if they were enacted. Many of them warned that their firms might fold because they would not have been able to adapt.