Weekly in The Times, a �Feedback' column appears with responses to complaints raised by readers. On March 10th 2007, a reader had written (abbreviated),,,
"I am writing to highlight the increasing incorrect use of collective nouns with plural verbs...'the team are doing this' or �England are doing that'..."
The editor responded...
"Actually it isn't incorrect. To quote Gowers: �In using collective words or nouns of multitude (department, government, committee and the like...there is no rule; either a singular or a plural verb may be used.'"
The Gowers referred to was Sir Ernest Gowers, the author of The Complete Plain Words (TCPW) first published in 1954. His words are echoed by those of the editor of Fowler's Modern English Usage (FMEU), who expresses the selfsame thought as, "In British English, collective nouns may be correctly followed by either a singular or a plural verb."
(Note the use of the word �may' by both...ie you need to consider the particular circumstances and it will depend on whether you are concentrating on the word's singularity or plurality aspect, as J suggests above.)
These two publications have long been regarded as �bibles' of current English usage. Despite that, every time the question we are discussing here is asked someone invariably appears and says exactly what the The Times letter-writer said...ie that a plural verb is wrong!
Whether to use singular or plural is often decided if a later pronoun is involved. We would never say, "The committee leaves its hats in the hall", though that's what the singular-verb brigade must logically demand.
The choice is yours...simple as that...but you can guarantee someone will appear here to deny that! Listen to the real experts.