BBC to cut almost one in 10 staff to make £500m savings

 

Reuters

The BBC has announced it will cut between 1,800 and 2,000 jobs - or almost one in 10 - in an attempt to tackle "significant financial pressures".

The broadcaster needs to make £500m savings over the next two years, and interim director general Rhodri Talfan Davies did not rule out axing entire channels or services.

 He stated on BBC Radio 4's Media Show, "We need to look at everything, and at a scale of £500 million inevitably there are going to be some big and some difficult choices, but we do need to step through this carefully." He stated that the company would provide additional information regarding the effects on its services later this year. "For audiences, the job in hand now over the next three or four months is to work through how we make those changes without damaging the services that we know are critical to the BBC across radio and television and online," he said.

READ MORE: How much is the BBC licence fee and how could it change?

 Additionally, he acknowledged that the staff would experience "really difficult news" from the layoffs. "Cuts of this magnitude" would be "devastating for the workforce and to the BBC as a whole," Bectu chief Philippa Childs warned. The BBC currently employs approximately 21,500 equivalent full-time employees. 

"As you know, the BBC is facing significant financial pressures, which we need to respond to with pace," Talfan Davies wrote in an email to employees on Wednesday. Simply put, the gap between our expenses and income is widening. Our license fee and commercial income are under pressure, production inflation remains very high, and the global economy remains turbulent are all contributing factors to this." Additionally, he tightened restrictions on spending on recruitment, travel, management consulting, and conference, award, and event attendance.

'Difficult decisions'

Before its royal charter is renewed at the end of 2027, the BBC is currently negotiating with the government about its future and the license fee. According to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, "like every institution," the BBC must make "difficult decisions." She stated on Radio 4's World at One shortly before the announcement, "That is something that I know the leadership of the BBC take very seriously, including exploring commercial options and other revenue raisers that can help to sustain the BBC's finances." The announcement of the reductions comes before the official appointment of a new BBC director general on May 18, when former Google executive Matt Brittin will officially take over for Tim Davie.

'Death by a thousand cuts'

Childs said BBC staff were "already under significant pressure after previous redundancy rounds", and further cuts "will inevitably damage its ability to deliver on its public mission".

She said: "This will also inevitably impact the wider creative industries ecosystem, given the BBC's crucial anchor role in commissioning content and nurturing talent."

She continued: "At a time of fake news and an industry that is becoming more concentrated in the hands of a few multinational corporations, the UK needs a confident, ambitious and sustainably-funded BBC more than ever.

"The government must ensure that Charter Renewal puts the BBC's funding on a more secure, long-term pathway and prevent our national broadcaster facing death by a thousand cuts."

Source: BBC