We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide.
We uniquely combine the UK’s deep expertise in arts and culture, education and the English language, our global presence and relationships in over 100 countries, our unparalleled access to young people, creatives and educators, and our own creative sparkle.
2024 marks 90 years of the British Council. Over these years we have created opportunities for millions of people and developed deep and long-lasting relationships. We continue to adapt to meet the needs of a changing world, while remaining committed to the principles on which we were founded.
We share our values and explore ideas. We have difficult discussions and find common ground. We create mutually beneficial relationships between the people of all four nations of the UK and other countries. This helps strengthen the UK’s global reputation and influence, encouraging people from around the world to visit, study, trade and make alliances with the UK.
We work directly with individuals to help them gain the skills, confidence and connections to transform their lives and shape a better world in partnership with the UK. We support them to build networks and explore creative ideas, to learn English, to get a high-quality education and to gain internationally recognised qualifications.
We work with governments and our partners in the education, English language and cultural sectors, in the UK and globally. Working together we make a bigger difference, creating benefit for millions of people all over the world.
We take a long-term approach to building trust and remain at arm’s length from the government.
We work with people in over 200 countries and territories and are on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2022–23 we reached 600 million people.
The majority of our income comes from partnership agreements, contracts, philanthropy, teaching and exams, and we also receive grant-in-aid funding from the UK government.
Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body.
Our status
We are:
- registered charity no 209131 (England and Wales) and SC037733 (Scotland)
- an executive non-departmental public body. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office is our sponsoring department
- a public corporation.
Our Patron is His Majesty King Charles III. Previously, Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II held this position until her passing in September 2022. His Majesty served as our Vice Patron from 1984 until his Accession.
Read more about our work in our annual reports.