Methods and apparatuses are provided for monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). A user equipment (UE) reports capability information indicating one or more tuples. Each tuple indicates a combination of serving cells configured for per-slot and per-span monitoring that the UE is capable of supporting. An indication is received in response to the capability information. A pair of values is determined based on the indication. A first value is a maximum number of serving cells configured for per-slot monitoring, and a second value is a maximum number of serving cells configured for per-span monitoring. A monitored candidate limit per slot is determined based on the first value. A monitored candidate limit per span is determined based on the second value.