I am writing to let you know that we will increase our fees from 1 January 2017.

The fee increase model we use for our statutory work (theatrical films under the Licensing Act 2003 and videos under the Video Recordings Act 1984) is Retail Price Index (RPI) minus 1%. In September 2016, the Office for National Statistics announced that RPI was at 2%. We are therefore increasing the fees for our statutory services by 1%, as follows:

Theatrical submissions

An increase of RPI minus 1% to £7.16 per minute and £102.52 submission fee

As Live submissions

An increase of RPI minus 1% to £102.52

Video Recordings Act submissions

An increase of RPI minus 1% to £6.14 per minute and £76.76 submission fee

This is only our second fee increase in the last nine years. Between 2007 and 2014, we did not raise our fees, resulting in a 19% reduction in real terms in the cost of BBFC services. By improving the efficiency of our systems and reducing our operating costs, we were able to sustain those savings and vastly improve our turnaround times. Two years ago, we announced that, to bring further improvements to our services, we would make small, sub-inflation annual increases to our fees, initially across 2015-2017. The first fee increase took place in January 2015. There was no increase in 2016. This second increase is, as before, made with the aim of minimising the financial impact on the film and video industries.

We will also change our tariffs for non-statutory work and for other services, as follows:

Watch & Rate submissions (for digital platform release)

The new price will be £2.91 per minute and £25 submission fee

Licences for digital platforms

Increasing by 10%, as follows:

5,001 titles + = £4,400

1,001-5,000 titles = £2,200

251-1,000 titles = £1,100

101-250 titles = £550

1 to 100 titles = services must licence with us, but no fee is charged

Online music videos

The new price will be £27.50 for first 5 minutes, thereafter remaining at £3 per minute

Distributor Change/Technical Comparison

The new price will be £153.52 (or the per-minute fee for works under 25 mins.) and relevant submission fee

Advice viewings

The new price will be £5.37 per minute and £76.76 submission fee

Script advice

The new price will be £7.16 per page (minimum fee: £102.52)

The new fee tariff is attached below.

These fee increases will enable us to continue achieving our core objectives of protecting children and empowering cinemagoers and home entertainment consumers to make informed viewing decisions, by providing trusted and well-understood BBFC age ratings and content advice.

Please note, for home entertainment submissions, these fee increases will apply to all content delivered on or after 1 January 2017. For theatrical submissions, the new fees will apply to all works being viewed from 1 January 2017 onwards.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.