[29] During the COVID-19 pandemic the British Council took a £200 million rolling emergency loan from the government at commercial interest rates, requiring annual renewal.

[29] The British Council jointly runs the global IELTS English-language standardised test with the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations and IDP Education Australia.

[29] In 2014, the British Council launched its first MOOC, Exploring English: Language and Culture, on the UK social learning platform FutureLearn.

Originally launched in 2001, the show is now broadcast in more than 30 countries around the world, connecting a global audience to a wide range of music the United Kingdom has to offer, covering a variety of genres from grime, indie, soul, dance and more.

[44] In July 2014 the British Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for cultural and educational exchange.

[45][46][47] The British Council has faced criticism for outsourcing key functions, including teacher recruitment, to a shared services centre in Noida, India.

Concerns have been raised over the influence of the Indian diaspora in shaping policy, with key figures such as Sanjay Patel (Chief People Officer), Vijay Doshi (Chief Financial Officer, formerly held by Bidesh Sarkar), and Sushil Saluja (Trustee, Chair of the Commercial Committee) in senior roles.

The decision to outsource coincides with MPs Virendra Sharma and Navendu Mishra holding vice-chair roles in both the British Council and India Trade APPGs, raising transparency concerns.

[51] In 2024, the EL Gazette highlighted the British Council’s outsourcing of teacher recruitment and other administrative operations to Uttar Pradesh, India,[52] as previously reported in The Times.

[53] The EL Gazette report raised concerns about cultural and operational missteps, including poor communication, language proficiency issues, and bureaucratic inefficiencies stemming from the Council’s shared services centre in Noida.

British Council teachers in Taiwan were set to vote on historic strike action over stagnant pay, unchanged since 2004 despite a 25% rise in inflation and a significant increase in student fees.

EL Gazette reported that teachers argue recent below-inflation pay increments fail to address the issue, despite the Council's claim of offering competitive packages.

[54] The British Council faced criticism for leaving behind over 100 Afghan teachers during the Taliban's 2021 takeover, exposing them to persecution for promoting UK values.

[55] While most were relocated to the UK by 2024 after years of hardship, some remain in danger, underscoring a critical failure in duty of care and the urgent need for systemic reform.

[56] In 2010, Conservative MP Mark Lancaster, the then Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury, the then Speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin, and other MPs were involved in rows over expenses incurred on undisclosed taxpayer-funded British Council trips.

A controversial issue arose in 2012 because PalFest's website states that they endorse the "2004 Palestinian call for the academic and cultural boycott of Israel".

[citation needed] In April 2012, the British Council faced a storm of protests over the exclusion of dissident Chinese writers from the London Book Fair 2012.

Critics included English PEN and journalist Nick Cohen writing for The Observer, as well as Alastair Niven, a former Literature Director of the British Council itself.

[65][66][67] In March 2007, the British Council announced its "intention to increase its investment in the Middle East, North Africa and Central and Southern Asia".

[citation needed] Council offices were closed in Lesotho, Eswatini, Ecuador and provincial Länder in Germany in 2000–2001 – as well as Belarus – prompting Parliamentary criticism.

[81] It expressed concern that in terms of joint educational programmes involving Chinese universities, the UK lagged Australia, the US, Hong Kong, Canada and France.

In its evidence to this committee, the British Council argued that "UK degrees are highly valued by international students for their global recognition.

International students adopt an essentially utilitarian view of higher education which is likely to increasingly involve consideration of value for money, including opting for programmes at least partly delivered offshore".

[85] It also concluded, however, that its English classes are elitist and have unfair advantages over commercial providers, as well as questioning thousands of unanswered phone calls and e-mails to British Council offices.

[86] As part of its examination of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Annual Report, the Foreign Affairs Committee spends an hour each year examining witnesses from the British Council but even this level of scrutiny is undermined by a Commons ruling exempting MPs from the requirement to declare overseas trips paid for by The British Council.

[89] Mr Griffiths had earlier travelled to Russia and spoke favourably of British Council activities there in January 1998 around the time that their man in St Petersburg (Stephen Kinnock) was expelled.

Royle also goes on to note that the novel The Russia House by John Le Carré (former consular official David Cornwell) opens with a reference to The British Council.

[94] It is also featured in one of the scenes in Graham Greene's The Third Man – the character Crabbin, played by Wilfrid Hyde-White in the film, worked for The British Council.

The role of the British Council in Myanmar in 1947 came under scrutiny with the release of classified documents to a BBC investigation by journalist Feargal Keane into the role of dissident British colonial officials in the assassination of the then Burmese independence leader Aung San (father of Aung San Suu Kyi).