UNN’s Oliver Down has learnt that The BBC has begun inviting its staff to apply for voluntary redundancy as part of an attempt to make £125 million in savings this year. Some have feared that thousands of the 19,231 staff working in broadcasting roles at the BBC could be in danger.
In an internal message that was sent to its public services staff, the director-general Lord Hall stated that the reason for these redundancies is the delay in the means-testing of the free TV licence for over-75s. Lord Hall said that this would cost a “significant sum at a time when revenue from the licence fee is also down”. It is understood that the BBC’s ability to collect the licence fee during the lockdown. To this end, Lord Hall also said: “Our commercial operations are also severely affected”.
A BBC spokesman has said: “The impact of the coronavirus pandemic means the BBC needs to make £125 million of savings this financial year, in addition to the considerable efficiency savings the corporation had previously committed to and planned for. The BBC’s challenge is to keep delivering programmes and services for the whole country while continuing to adapt and change. The BBC is, therefore, inviting public service staff to express an interest in voluntary redundancy.”
The BBC has also suspended plans to cut around 450 jobs in BBC News, as previously announced, but is insistent that these cuts will still take place at a later date. In addition to this, James Purnell who is the BBC’s director of radio and education has told MPs that the BBC would have to air repeats and that the pandemic’s effect on schedules would be starker next year than this.
[give_form id=”1772″ show_title=”false” show_goal=”false” show_content=”below” display_style=”modal”]
Current Affairs Correspondent | My name is Oliver Down I am 22, and a staunch brexiteer. I am a Bristolian lad who studied politics in Leicester. I believe in free speech and accurate journalism and I won’t be afraid to give you “the other side” of the story!
[sibwp_form id=4]
