The British Council is efficient and well-run
21 September 2012
We provide excellent value for money for the people of the UK
- The British Council is a UK charity and a public body. We operate a ‘mixed economy’ model, generating our own income, as well as receiving grant funding from government. The bulk of our turnover – 75% – comes from self-generated income.
- In difficult financial times, we continue to play our part in meeting the government’s deficit reduction plans.
- We have significantly reduced the costs of our UK operations by restructuring – cutting the number of staff based in London and rationalising office functions.
- Government grant remains a vital element of our funding that enables us to represent the UK’s long-term interests in countries where we cannot rely on earned income.
- We have focused resources overseas, where we can deliver the greatest cultural relations benefit to the UK.
- We have prioritised work in the countries which will be most important for the UK’s future prosperity.
- Using the UK’s great cultural assets – English, the arts and education – we are building trust in the UK in the places that matter most for our economy and security.
Only 25% of our turnover comes from a UK government grant. 75% of our turnover is self-generated income.
We generate our own income by charging those that can afford to pay for our services, building partnerships and successfully bidding for contracts from the EU, the Department for International Development, national governments and other international bodies.
We re-invest our trading surpluses and achieve efficiency savings, increasing our impact without drawing further on government funding.
By 2015, our UK government grant will have fallen by over 26% in real terms. However, by increasing the income we generate for ourselves, we plan to grow our turnover during this period by 29% so we can maintain our global reach and impact.
We will increase our self-generated income by expanding our services, engaging with new sponsors and partners, as well as pursuing further international contracts, where such activities complement our charitable objectives.
By 2015, for every £6 we spend on building international opportunities and trust for the UK, less than £1 will come from our UK government grant.
We cut costs well ahead of the Spending Review. In 2009-10 and 2010-11, we made cuts of £20 million in headcount and support services.
We have reduced our UK staff numbers by a third, a reduction of 400 posts. We froze pay ahead of the rest of the UK public sector.
We have centralised many back-office functions, providing a single global hub based in India that supports all our offices across 110 countries.
By 2015, we will have made further efficiency savings of £70 million. This will mean our global platform costs will account for just 15% of expenditure, down from 17% currently.
