STFC warns of ‘unsustainable’ funding pressure

The Science and Technology Facilities Council has said that the financial pressures it faces “will become unsustainable in the coming years”.

Brian Bowsher, chief executive of the STFC, painted a gloomy picture for the organisation’s future finances in its annual report and accounts for 2016-17, published on 13 July.

In a foreword, Bowsher writes that the “pressures of more than seven years of flat cash funding” had become evident in the past year, but had been “manageable” despite reduced operating capital and higher operational costs as a result of the falling value of sterling.