The Stage

BBC criticised for £36m website overspend

Published Thursday 29 May 2008 at 15:05 by Matthew Hemley

BBC management has been accused of poor financial accountability after it was revealed that the Corporation went almost £36 million over budget on its website last year.

The accusation was made today by the BBC Trust, which has completed an extensive review into bbc.co.uk, which had a budget of £74.2 million for the year ending March 2008.

However, actual spend was £110 million, 48% over its budget, which the trust said was largely due to the “misallocation of £24.9 million in overheads and costs to other budgets within the BBC”.

BBC management want to invest an additional £39 million into the website in 2008/9, but the trust said it would now be looking for “tighter management controls” before this is approved.

In a statement issued today, the trust said: “The trust has concluded that tighter management controls are necessary for bbc.co.uk and has requested these be implemented to the trust’s satisfaction before it will consider approval of the additional investment for the service as proposed by BBC management.”

Patricia Hodgson, the BBC trustee who led the review, added: “For the benefit of those who pay, the trust wants evidence of stronger management controls to improve financial accountability and strategic and editorial oversight before we consider new investment in the service. We hope to receive this soon so that audiences can enjoy an even more distinctive and improved bbc.co.uk.”

The trust’s report of the website is the first in the series of reviews of all BBC services required by the new charter.

It concluded that bbc.co.uk “is an excellent service that is highly valued by users and makes a strong contribution to delivering the BBC’s public purposes”.

However, the review also found that the number of people visiting sites to accompany BBC dramas had decreased “dramatically” and blamed this decline on a drop in the number of new users coming to bbc.co.uk and the fact internet users now have more choice.