BBC welcomes prospect of increased government funding
The BBC World Service has been given a government funding boost in today’s budget, although the exact financial details are yet to be revealed.
While chancellor Rachel Reeves did not announce the cash boost in the Commons, the UK’s budget document published today indicated that government funding for next year will be higher than the £104m committed for the last financial year.
It said: “In 2025-26, the settlement provides an increase in funding to the BBC World Service, protecting existing foreign language service provision and its mission to deliver globally trusted media, in support of the UK’s global presence and soft power.”
A BBC statement said the announcement will enable it to maintain its existing language services, but warned the division remains at risk.
“We are pleased the government has acknowledged the strong case for investing in the World Service,” it said.
“Today’s announcement will enable us to maintain all of our existing language services, to continue fighting disinformation around the world, and also to provide emergency information services to those in crisis, as we have recently done in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine.
“However, despite today’s announcement, the BBC World Service is not immune to the immense pressures facing the rest of the BBC…Given this, we will need to work through the details of the funding, and we will say more in due course about any changes and savings we need to make to stay competitive in the face of those continuing pressures.”
Bectu also welcomed the news, with its head Philippa Childs saying: “We will keep a keen eye on further details and continue to push for sustained and adequate funding for our world-leading public service broadcaster.”
For the last financial year, the World Service was chiefly funded by the UK licence fee (75%) amounting to £265m. The government agreed to provide additional funding from 2016, which amounted to £104m for the last financial year. The current settlement runs down in March 2025.
Director general Tim Davie and BBC News global director Jonathan Munro have been in discussions with foreign secretary David Lammy and his team to get more funding for the international news division. Davie is also pleading for the government to take back the funding for the World Service, which it fully funded for 80 years until 2014.
Earlier this month, Davie sounded the alarm that Russian and Chinese state-funded media are moving in to fill gaps where the World Service has seen recent cuts.
The Labour government has voiced support for the World Service and the BBC more broadly on numerous occasions since taking power.
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