BBC Monitoring - Funding

Funding

Although administratively and editorially part of the BBC, until recently BBC Monitoring did not receive any funding from the licence fee; instead it was funded directly by its stakeholders as well as by subscriptions from official and commercial bodies throughout the world. The principal stakeholder is the Cabinet Office and subscriptions are also received from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Ministry of Defence and the BBC World Service. Other customers include other government departments, private sector and third sector bodies.

In the 2010 BBC licence fee settlement the BBC agreed to take on the government's funding of BBC Monitoring from 2013/2014, finding the £25 million required from the licence fee.

Reported on BBC News (17 January 2011), BBC Monitoring cut 72 posts following a £3 million cut in funding over the next two years. Director of BBC Monitoring, Chris Westcott, said: "Regrettably service cuts and post closures are inevitable given the scale of the cut in funding." The Caversham-based service translates media reports from around the world.

The proposal is to cut £3m from the service's costs by closing the 72 posts - about 16% of its staff - but it expects to create 18 new posts. Mr Westcott added that a period of consultation with staff on the plans were due to begin shortly. The BBC agreed to finance Monitoring from 2013/14 as part of the 2010 licence fee settlement which froze the annual fee at £145.50 for six years. The agreement also saw the corporation agree to take over the Foreign Office-funded World Service from 2014.