Â鶹Éç

We work with licence fee payers and with a wide range of institutions to help us to get the best out of the Â鶹Éç.

Licence fee payers have a powerful voice in the way the Â鶹Éç is run. We have a duty under the Charter to "actively seek the views of, and engage with, licence fee payers." We do this in many different ways including formal consultations, public meetings, local radio phone-ins, and through the work of our Audience Councils.

There are four Audience Councils – for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. They help to ensure that we keep in close touch with the views of licence fee payers from all parts of the UK. You can find out more about the Councils on the Audience Councils page.

The Charter, coupled with multi-year licence fee settlements, guarantees the Â鶹Éç's independence from Parliament and Government. This system provides stability, proper accountability and flexibility over time while ensuring that those responsible for editorial decisions at the Â鶹Éç are able to exercise their judgment freely. The Trust does, of course, have many dealings with government at a working level – in particular with the ministry responsible for broadcasting policy, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

Some aspects of the Â鶹Éç are regulated by outside bodies. On competition policy the Â鶹Éç is regulated by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), and the European Commission, and Ofcom. Ofcom also regulates some other aspects of the Â鶹Éç, for example the Â鶹Éç is covered by Ofcom's Fairness Code.

Our relationship with Ofcom is set out in a Memorandum of Understanding.

One of the most important things we do is ensure that licence fee payers get good value for money from the Â鶹Éç. One way we do this is by working with the National Audit Office (NAO) to commission independent value for money investigations. We publish the reports on this website, and we tell you how the Â鶹Éç plans to respond to any recommendations. You can find the reports on the Value for money page.

The Â鶹Éç Executive Board oversees the day-to-day operations of the Â鶹Éç. You can find more about how we work with the Executive in the Relationship with the Executive Board page.