Equity boycotts government BBC Charter Renewal survey calling it ‘unfit for purpose’

Equity, the performers’ union, has announced it is boycotting the government’s survey in relation to BBC Charter renewal. It says it’s:

unfit for purpose in either detail or scope.

The union points to the survey’s complete absence of workforce consideration or representation, despite longstanding collective agreement arrangements with multiple trades unions which cover tens of thousands of BBC workers.

Equity is also encouraging its members to boycott the survey.

The union’s key criticisms of the survey are:

• Limited themes covered by questions.
• Public responses are to be aggregated by artificial intelligence software.
• Simplistic “agree or disagree” framing.
• Word limits where free text boxes exist, with limits of 50, 250 or 350 words for responses (many questions are almost 200 words long themselves).
• Airbrushing of workforce.

The BBC Charter

The Royal Charter is the constitutional basis for the BBC. It sets out the BBC’s objectives and purposes, as well as how it is governed and regulated.

The government’s survey launched just as parliament went into Christmas recess on 16 December 2025, with the consultation period closing on 10 March 2026. Although Equity is boycotting the survey, the union has actively engaged with other Charter renewal activity.

This includes sharing with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) a formal written submission covering the union’s policy proposals for the BBC – most of which sit outside the scope of the survey – as well as meeting with DCMS officials, BBC representatives and third parties.

Paul W Fleming, Equity’s general secretary, said:

Is the government setting out to do a W1A-esque satire of the Charter Renewal process? Its aim may be to ensure the BBC is accountable, yet this survey seems designed to actively avoid finding out what people think about the broadcaster and its future.

Not only is it restrictive, blinkered, and unfit for purpose in both detail and scope – it is contemptuous of the wide and varied BBC workforce, including directly employed, freelance and commissioned workers.

Creative workers will be dismayed at the missed opportunity to really delve into the purpose, position and possibilities for the BBC. And the fact that responses may be processed using artificial intelligence only adds insult to injury.

For these reasons, Equity is boycotting this survey, and we are encouraging our members to boycott it as well.

There needs to be an expansive consultation into the future of our public service broadcaster which genuinely seeks and listens to the views of the public, including the workers whose careers depend on the BBC.

Equity’s recommendations

Beyond the limitations of the survey, Equity intends to share with DCMS its key demands for a revitalised BBC. Chief among these is the recognition of trade unions as essential partners of the broadcaster to ensure good jobs – for employees as well as freelancers – to drive growth across the UK.

Equity is also asking for:

• A Workforce Covenant recognising that BBC commissioning and operational decisions must respond to the needs of the workforce as well as audiences, and imposing a legal duty to conduct workforce impact assessments and implement mitigation measures.
• A fair distribution of BBC investment across the nations and regions, starting with the Midlands.
• Workforce representation on the BBC Board.
• A substantial and guaranteed level of investment in audio drama series.
• A continuing or returning drama series that films for more than six months of the year in each of the UK’s Ofcom-defined reporting areas.
• An enforceable commitment to abide by an ethical and rights-based approach to AI, including seeking artists’ agreement to any use of generative AI and consulting relevant unions in that regard.

Survey questions

The 32 survey questions are available here: Britain’s Story: The Next Chapter – BBC Royal Charter Review, Green Paper and public consultation – GOV.UK

None of the questions ask about worker representation in the running or decision making of the BBC. The one question about workplace standards (question 5) does not allow a written response,  restricting respondents to simplistic tick box answers.

The only direct reference to “those working for the BBC” is in relation to pay, which appears to be a reference to ‘talent’ salaries, ie a tiny minority of highly paid people (question 6).

Featured image via the Canary