About our National Lottery Strategy

It has nurtured filmmakers and creative risk-takers, helped develop our world-class workforce, inspired young people, and connected audiences to a more diverse screen culture – ways that the market cannot deliver. Over the next 10 years, we want to build on this legacy, expand on the opportunities for growth and explore new avenues for creativity in the screen sector.

The way we tell stories and experience them on screen is ever-evolving with the growing sophistication of video games, virtual production, XR, immersive and new forms.  As creators enter new frontiers, we need to represent and nurture this wider range of work as well as the ways that people can experience them on screen.

Our new BFI National Lottery Strategy 2023-2033 responds to these changes.  It will govern and shape our funds and programmes over the 10-year period. The first BFI National Lottery Funding Plan will start in April 2023 and covers the first three years of the strategy, with subsequent funding plans allowing us to adapt funds and programmes as screen culture evolves.

The BFI National Lottery Strategy and Funding Plan also form an important part of Screen Culture 2033, the wider corporate strategy for the BFI.  We are launching both strategies and the funding plan simultaneously.  Screen Culture 2033 sets out the BFI’s plans as a cultural organisation, the UK Government’s lead organisation for film and the moving image and a charity – from our cultural programming, to our estates, to our digital services such as BFI Player. Taken together, Screen Culture 2033 and the BFI National Lottery Strategy and Funding Plan will set out how we will deliver on our vision to transform access to supported programmes, screen culture, and jobs across the whole of the UK over the next 10 years.

To develop a long-term National Lottery strategy and funding plan that would deliver the greatest possible benefit to the public and the sector, we consulted extensively over a 13-month period with hundreds of screen sector stakeholders and more than 2,000 members of the public across the UK.  We also evaluated a wide range of our current National Lottery-funded activity to make sure our strategy was based on solid evidence.

Every investment we make over the next 10 years will have to demonstrate how it delivers against our new strategy. As we head into this period, our available BFI National Lottery funding will be approximately £45m a year, which for the first three years of the strategy is approximately 10% lower than during the final three years of BFI2022. As a result, it is even more important that every investment we make delivers the greatest possible impact to the public.

We will not be able to deliver on this strategy on our own.  We can only achieve this through partnerships with a network of external organisations who will be central to how we deliver these funds and programmes over the next 10 years. Through collaboration, we will ensure our funded activity draws on the wide-ranging knowledge and experience of people in every part of the country and responds to the needs of the regions and devolved nations of the UK.

This strategy comes at a moment when cultural, economic and societal factors are having a seismic impact on the screen sector, independent film and screen culture as a whole. This will present huge challenges but also enormous and exciting opportunities. We will continue to work to understand the need for National Lottery intervention across ..the broader screen sectors – from television and video games to interactive and immersive work alongside independent film which historically has been the focus this support.

We thank everyone who has given their time to help us develop and deliver this strategy for the 10 years ahead.

Tim Richards, Chair BFI
Ben Roberts, Chief Executive, BFI

This plan sets out the BFI’s National Lottery Strategy for the period April 2023 to March 2033. It details the aims and objectives that will guide BFI National Lottery funding over the next 10 years.

It outlines our role as a National Lottery distributor, and how we consulted widely to develop it.

We’ll work hand-in-hand with a series of funding plans that we’ll publish over the 10-year period. These plans will detail the specific funds and programmes we will use to deliver the strategy, spanning shorter periods of time. The first funding plan covers the three-year period from 2023 to 2026 and is available to read here.

We will evolve our strategy throughout this period to make sure it remains fit for purpose as the landscape continues to shift.

BFI National Lottery funding

• Under the National Lottery etc. Act 1993 (as amended), proceeds from the National Lottery are split between a number of ‘good causes’. This includes the arts, sport, national heritage and beyond.
• The BFI acts as the UK-wide distributor of National Lottery good cause funding for film.
• The BFI is an arms-length body supported by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. We invest money from the Government as well as National Lottery funding to achieve our mission and aims.
• The National Lottery etc. Act 1993 (as amended) sets the terms for how the BFI awards National Lottery funding. This includes through directions issued to the BFI by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.

These directions set out a number of ways in which National Lottery funding can deliver benefit to the public, including:

• to involve the public and local communities in making policies and setting priorities for how we use this good cause funding
• to encourage new talent, innovation, excellence and to help people to develop new skills
• to ensure that film is central to the lives of UK citizens, and to improve the quality of British film and raise its profile in the marketplace
• to inspire children and young people
• to improve community cohesion and/or social inclusion
• to unlock film heritage for everyone in the UK
• to increase access and participation for those in sections of society who do not currently benefit from opportunities available
• to help the sector develop sustainably
• to support equality of opportunity across the UK

This National Lottery Strategy has been developed in consultation with the public and people working across the screen sector

What we mean by a National Lottery Strategy (2023-2033)

This National Lottery Strategy sets out what the BFI will aim to achieve through investment of National Lottery funding over the next 10 years.

The strategy sets out these aims within a framework that comprises:

• cross-cutting principles that apply across every area of National Lottery funding
• objectives relating to the major ambitions for where we would like to see the sector in 10 years’ time
• outcomes focusing on the results that need to be delivered to realise the objectives

All activity supported using National Lottery funding over the next 10 years will need to deliver against this framework. We will return to the framework over the strategy period to make sure it remains fit for purpose as the landscape continues to shift.

What we mean by a funding plan

We published this National Lottery Strategy alongside the first in a series of funding plans. These plans sit beneath the strategy and set out how we will use National Lottery funding to deliver against the strategic framework. The plans will each cover a period of three or four years and will set out the specific funds and programmes that the BFI will run over this period.

Running shorter funding plans will allow us to improve how we deliver against the strategy over time. We will be able to adapt or introduce new funds and programmes as we evaluate which are effective, and as the needs of the screen sector evolve. It will also allow us to tailor programmes and delivery as the amount of available funding changes over time.

Our first funding plan covers the period 2023-2026. The plan accounts for a reduction of around 10% in the levels of National Lottery funding available as we enter the strategy period.

How we have developed this National Lottery Strategy

We have undertaken an extensive process to develop this National Lottery Strategy, including phases of consultation with both the public and the UK screen sectors (including film, television, video games, and interactive and& immersive) on their priorities for the next 10 years.

Phase one: initial evidence gathering (August 2021-January 2022)

First off, we gathered as much information as possible on public and sector priorities for National Lottery funding. We did this in a number of ways:

1. We consulted widely. We consulted more than 2,000 members of the public and around 300 sector stakeholders on their priorities for funding over the next 10 years. This first round of consultation took place from August to October 2021 and produced a rich range of insights.
2. We talked to wider stakeholders. This included people working in related areas, but not within the screen sector itself. For example, we spoke to schools and education providers across the UK about how funding can help children and young people connect with screen culture both inside and outside the classroom.
3. We gathered research and analysis on key questions. We collected and reviewed more than 50 pieces of research and analysis on the current status and future trajectory of the UK screen sectors and its audiences.
4. We evaluated programmes supported through BFI National Lottery funding under BFI2022. This helped us understand what has worked well in the past, what could improve, and where the sector will need different support in the future.

Phase Two: testing and refining our thinking (January-September 2022)

We developed a draft framework of principles, objectives and outcomes based on this evidence. We developed this framework in line with the HM Treasury Green Book, which provides guidance on designing programmes. We published the draft framework in April 2022.

Since publishing this draft, we have refined the framework in a number of ways:

1. We ran a second round of consultation. We asked people whether the framework was fit for purpose, whether there was anything missing, and whether we should make any changes. 

We offered an online survey on the draft framework, which was open to anyone to contribute or comment on over a 4-week period. We also held a series of online meetings from 14 cities across the UK. These sessions gave people the chance to share their thoughts on how well the draft framework reflected their needs.

We held these meetings in:

• Belfast
• Birmingham
• Bradford
• Bristol
• Cardiff
• Glasgow
• Liverpool
• London
• Manchester
• Newcastle
• Norwich
• Nottingham
• Plymouth
• Sheffield

We also ran sessions on key areas of focus, including young people, video games and interactive content, and equity, diversity and inclusion.

Integrating further insights. We continued to amend the strategy as new research and insight became available over this period. This included: 

• BFI Skills Review. In 2021 the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) commissioned the BFI to undertake a skills review, focusing on scripted film and high-end television physical production. We published the findings in June 2022.
• Economic Review of UK Independent Film. The BFI worked with Alma Economics on a new report on the revenue models in independent film. The report set out key opportunities and challenges currently facing the sector. We published this in July.
• BFI Diversity Standards Review. Consultancy firm New Inclusion reviewed the BFI Diversity Standards to make sure they remain fit for purpose in the future. New Inclusion worked with key stakeholders to do this. We will shortly launch a new set of Standards, and will use them as we move into the new strategy period from April 2023. The Standards will be subject to further review over the strategy period as work in this area continues.
• Further evaluation. We continued to evaluate BFI2022 programmes over this period, and drew on their findings as we developed the strategy. 

BFI National Lottery funding has historically focused on film primarily. However, we used the strategy development process to engage with television, video games and interactive and immersive sectors too. This has helped us to understand the role that National Lottery funding may play as screen culture continues to evolve.