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The UK government is examining cuts to its BBC World Service grant in the spending review, with the broadcaster bracing for changes to its budget as a result of the recently announced foreign aid cuts.
BBC director-general Tim Davie has said the corporation is gearing up to engage with Foreign Office officials over the fallout of the decision.
“In the last few days we have been asked to prepare for further engagement with the FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] on the impact of the reduction in Overseas Development Spending,” he wrote to the chairs of parliament’s international development, culture, and foreign affairs committees.
He added: “We will be happy to keep you posted if this results in financial implications on the World Service in 2026-27 and beyond.”
Most of the World Service grant comes from the formal aid budget, while a small proportion is sourced from other funding pots within the Foreign Office.
Government officials said cuts to the BBC World Service grant are among those under consideration, but insisted no final decisions have been made.
Sir Keir Starmer announced plans last month to cut UK aid in order to fund an increase in defence spending from 2027. Officials are now seeking about £6bn of savings from within the official development budget over the next two years.
BBC executives are concerned that the government will use the cuts to overseas aid to force through a further squeeze on the budget for the World Service later this year.
Jonathan Munro, global director of BBC News, told the Financial Times that “as press freedom drastically reduces, disinformation thrives and state-backed media advance aggressively, [the World Service’s] role is increasingly important”.
He added: “We need a sustainable, long term funding solution that enables the World Service to meet these global challenges and invest in services for the future.”
In the autumn Budget the department secured a 30 per cent uplift in state funding for the World Service in 2025-26, taking the government grant to £137mn.
Davie told MPs last week that the money “runs out in April 2026” and is “just to keep the show on the road, let alone [make] proper investment”.
He said that he “did not know” about the implications of the government’s decision to change foreign aid, but added: “I would suggest it’s probably not positive.”
Sarah Champion, Labour chair of the international development committee, said: “The World Service is the jewel in Britain’s crown, trusted the world over . . . Where services have been cut, Russia and China have filled the space with very different objectives.”
Some in the BBC have floated the idea of the government fully funding the World Service again. BBC chair Samir Shah told the MPs on the committee that if the government were to “take back paying of the World Service, that would save us a few £100mn a year. [But] that’s not in my gift.”
Last week UK foreign secretary David Lammy told the FT that almost every element of the aid budget is being considered “line by line” for potential cuts, as part of the cross-Whitehall spending review that will report in June.
People within the FCDO are braced for wider cuts to their department in the spending review, beyond the reduction to the aid budget. A cut to the department’s diplomatic headcount is another possibility that has sparked alarm among ex-mandarins.
Lammy has previously been a staunch defender of the BBC, branding it one of the key institutions that make up the UK’s soft power overseas, which in turn he described as one of Britain’s “greatest strengths” last year.
He heaped criticism on the Conservatives for undermining the broadcaster in an essay setting out his foreign policy approach before the general election last summer.
FCDO officials pointed out that the BBC funding model is due to be looked at in the corporation’s upcoming charter review.
However, they stressed the government’s support for the World Service was demonstrated at the Budget last October.
Officials indicate they are alive to arguments made by BBC insiders that the World Service performs a crucial duty in countering disinformation abroad.
The FCDO said: “The government highly values the BBC World Service, which reaches a global audience of 320mn, and remains the world’s most trusted international news service.”
