Ofcom: Fairness, Privacy Complaints & Sanctions

Last reviewed: 24 July 2026Next review due: 24 January 2028

10 min read

Beyond the Code: Ofcom as complaints handler and enforcer

Ofcom is the statutory regulator for broadcast television and radio in the UK, established under the Communications Act 2003. Most discussion of Ofcom focuses on the content rules in the Broadcasting Code — due impartiality, accuracy, offence and the rest. This guide looks at the other half of the story: the complaints and enforcement machinery that turns those rules into outcomes for broadcasters and the people they report on.

The key structural point is that Ofcom regulates licensed broadcasters. Because broadcasting is licensed, Ofcom can attach conditions to a licence and impose real statutory sanctions for breach — a very different position from the voluntary, corrections-based self-regulation of the press. For the substance of the Code itself, see our Ofcom Broadcasting Code guide.

Two kinds of complaint: standards versus fairness and privacy

Ofcom draws a fundamental distinction between two categories of complaint, and they follow different rules about who may bring them.

Standards complaints

Concern matters such as harm and offence, accuracy and due impartiality. Anyone can make a standards complaint, whether or not they were personally involved in or affected by the programme.

Fairness and privacy complaints

Concern unjust or unfair treatment of an individual or organisation, and unwarranted infringement of privacy. Only the person affected (or someone authorised on their behalf) may complain.

Fairness and privacy sit in Sections 7 and 8 of the Broadcasting Code. The jurisdiction to entertain these complaints derives from the framework in the Broadcasting Act 1996 (sections 107 to 130), functions that Ofcom inherited under the Communications Act 2003 when it absorbed the earlier standards and complaints bodies.

The “person affected” test

The gatekeeping concept for fairness and privacy complaints is the person affected. Unlike a standards complaint, which any viewer or listener can lodge, a fairness or privacy complaint requires the complainant to have a direct interest in what was broadcast. In practice that usually means the person was the subject of the programme, took part in it, or had their privacy intruded upon by the way it was made or transmitted.

This distinction reflects the purpose of the two regimes. Standards protect the public interest in what is broadcast generally, so the public at large has standing. Fairness and privacy protect the individual's interest in being treated justly and in not having their private life exposed without warrant, so the remedy belongs to the individual affected. A complaint may also be brought by a person authorised to act on the affected person's behalf, which matters where the subject has died or cannot complain themselves.

How Ofcom investigates and adjudicates

Once Ofcom decides a fairness or privacy complaint falls within its remit, it runs an adversarial, document-based process. The essential steps are consistent even though the detail varies with the case:

Assessment: Ofcom first decides whether it will entertain the complaint at all, checking that it is made by a person affected, is in time, and is not more appropriately dealt with elsewhere, such as through litigation.
Exchange of submissions: the complainant sets out the complaint and the broadcaster is asked to respond, providing recordings and its account. The parties then comment on each other's submissions, sometimes over several rounds.
Adjudication: Ofcom weighs the material, applying Sections 7 and 8 of the Code, and reaches a decision that a complaint is upheld, not upheld, or upheld in part.
Publication: the reasoned decision is published, so both the finding and the analysis behind it enter the public record.

The process is deliberately weighted towards written evidence and the broadcaster's own recordings rather than live hearings. Fairness turns on how the programme was actually made — what the contributor was told, how material was edited, whether a right of reply was offered — so contemporaneous records matter. The related obligation to give people a chance to respond is covered in our right of reply guide.

The statutory sanctions Ofcom can impose

Because broadcasters hold licences, Ofcom's enforcement powers are real and graduated. Most breaches are dealt with by a published finding alone, but where a breach is serious, deliberate, repeated or reckless, Ofcom can move to formal statutory sanctions.

Direction to broadcast a correction or a statement of Ofcom's findings: the licensee can be ordered to air a correction or a summary of the adjudication, and to do so with appropriate prominence.
Direction not to repeat: Ofcom can direct that an offending programme or item not be broadcast again.
Financial penalty: for serious breaches Ofcom can impose a fine up to the statutory maximum applicable to that licence, paid to Ofcom.
Shortening the licence: at the serious end, Ofcom can reduce the period for which a licence runs.
Revoking the licence: the ultimate sanction is to revoke the licence, removing the broadcaster's right to transmit. This is reserved for the gravest cases.

The exact maximum fine and the availability of the most serious sanctions depend on the type of licence and the governing legislation, and the precise figures are set by statute rather than at large. What matters for understanding the system is the direction of travel: unlike a press regulator, Ofcom can ultimately stop a broadcaster from broadcasting.

Where findings are published: the Broadcast and On Demand Bulletin

Ofcom publishes its decisions in the Broadcast and On Demand Bulletin, issued regularly. Each edition records complaints assessed, cases formally investigated, findings on whether the Code was breached, and fairness and privacy adjudications, together with the reasoning. Because the reasoning is published in full, the Bulletin operates as a growing body of regulatory precedent.

For journalists this is a practical resource, not just an archive. Reading how Ofcom has applied the Code to comparable programmes is the best guide to where the lines actually fall on impartiality, offence, accuracy, fairness and privacy. It is a transparency mechanism the press system has no direct equivalent to at the same level of detail.

Broadcast versus press — and where the BBC fits

The cleanest way to hold the system in your head is by regulator. Broadcast television and radio are licensed and regulated by Ofcom, with statutory sanctions behind the rules. The press is self-regulatedby IPSO or IMPRESS, or by publishers' own schemes, with corrections-based remedies and no licence to revoke. They are genuinely separate regimes, and a complaint about a programme goes to a fundamentally different body from a complaint about an article. Our IPSO vs IMPRESS guide covers the press side of that divide.

The BBCsits within the broadcast regime. Since 2017, under the BBC Charter that took effect that year, Ofcom has been the external regulator of the BBC's broadcast standards, taking over from the former BBC Trust. Ofcom holds the BBC to the Broadcasting Code — including due impartiality — and publishes findings in the usual way, although the BBC's editorial complaints process is normally the first port of call before escalation. The practical application of impartiality is examined in our due impartiality guide.

Article 10, offence and proportionality

Broadcast regulation restricts what can be said, so it engages the right to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The courts have confirmed that Ofcom regulation can be a legitimate and proportionate interference with that right. The leading authority is R (Gaunt) v Ofcom [2011] EWCA Civ 692, in which the Court of Appeal upheld an Ofcom finding that a presenter had breached the Code during a combative live interview.

The principle to take away is that Article 10 protects robust, provocative and even offensive speech, but it does not shield gratuitously abusive personal attacks that add nothing to the debate, and it does not disable proportionate broadcast standards. Ofcom's task in a contested case is to strike that balance, and its published reasoning shows how it does so in practice.

Video-sharing platforms and online safety duties

Ofcom's remit is no longer confined to traditional broadcasting. It regulates UK-established video-sharing platforms, requiring them to take appropriate measures to protect users from certain categories of harmful material. More significantly, under the Online Safety Act 2023, Ofcom has been given a substantial new role as the online safety regulator, with duties focused on how online services address illegal content and protect children.

These online functions are a separate framework from the Broadcasting Code, they are still being built out through codes of practice and guidance, and they operate on a different legal footing from the fairness and privacy jurisdiction described above. The headline point for journalists is that the neat old boundary — broadcast to Ofcom, everything online elsewhere — has shifted, and Ofcom is now a significant regulator of online safety as well as broadcasting. The interaction of these duties with reporting is explored further in our technology and AI reporting guide.

Frequently asked questions

Who can complain to Ofcom about unfairness or privacy?

Fairness and privacy complaints are restricted: they can only be brought by the person affected, or by someone authorised to complain on their behalf. To qualify you generally need a direct interest in the programme — for example, you were the subject of the item, you took part in it, or your privacy was intruded upon. This is a narrower gateway than standards complaints. Anyone can complain that a programme breached standards on, say, offence or accuracy, whether or not they were personally involved, but only the person affected can pursue a fairness or privacy complaint under Sections 7 and 8 of the Broadcasting Code.

What sanctions can Ofcom impose on a broadcaster?

Ofcom has statutory sanctions that escalate with seriousness. It can direct a licensee to broadcast a correction or a statement of Ofcom's findings, and direct that a programme not be repeated. For more serious breaches it can impose a financial penalty up to the statutory maximum for that licence. At the most serious end it can shorten a licence period or, ultimately, revoke the licence altogether. These powers derive from the broadcasting legislation and the licence conditions, and are quite distinct from the corrections-only remedies available in press self-regulation. The great majority of cases are resolved by a published finding rather than a formal sanction.

Does Ofcom regulate the BBC?

Yes, since 2017. Under the BBC Charter that took effect that year, Ofcom became the external regulator of the BBC's broadcast content, replacing the former BBC Trust. Ofcom now holds the BBC to the Broadcasting Code, including due impartiality, accuracy, fairness and privacy, and publishes its findings in the same way as for commercial broadcasters. The BBC's own editorial complaints process is normally the first step, but viewers and listeners can escalate to Ofcom. The BBC's constitutional position under the Charter differs from a commercial licence, so the precise mix of available sanctions is not identical, but Ofcom is the external standards regulator.

Where are Ofcom decisions published?

Ofcom publishes its broadcast and on-demand decisions in the Broadcast and On Demand Bulletin, issued regularly. Each edition sets out complaints assessed, cases investigated, findings on whether the Code was breached, and any fairness and privacy adjudications. The Bulletin is public and searchable, which makes it a valuable resource for journalists tracking how the regulator interprets the Code in practice. Because reasoning is published in full, the Bulletin functions as a running body of regulatory precedent showing where Ofcom draws lines on impartiality, offence, accuracy, fairness and privacy across television and radio.

Does Ofcom regulate newspapers or online content?

Not the press. Newspapers and magazines are self-regulated by IPSO or IMPRESS, or by their own in-house schemes; Ofcom has no jurisdiction over them. Ofcom's core remit is licensed broadcast television and radio. Its reach into online has grown, however: it regulates UK-established video-sharing platforms and, under the Online Safety Act 2023, has been given duties as the online safety regulator. Those online functions are a separate framework from the Broadcasting Code and are still developing, so the clean historical line — broadcast to Ofcom, press to IPSO or IMPRESS — no longer captures the full picture of what Ofcom now does.