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BBC to cut nearly 2,000 jobs

The BBC has announced a cost-cutting plan that will see nearly 2,000 job losses as the broadcaster looks to save £670 million…

Thu Oct 06 2011 - 01:00

The BBC has announced a cost-cutting plan that will see nearly 2,000 job losses as the broadcaster looks to save £670 million (€776 million) a year.

The corporation published its "Delivering Quality First" programme, which includes £670 million saving by 2016/17 on top of £30 million of savings generated by exceeding targets for its current efficiency programme.

Director general Mark Thompson said the plan meant “stretching efficiencies and significant job losses”, adding: “It’s my judgment that this is the last time the BBC will be able to make this level of savings without a substantial loss of services or quality or both.”

Gerry Morrissey, general secretary of the technicians’ union Bectu, said the programme should have been called "Destroying Quality First".

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“They are destroying jobs, and destroying the BBC,” he said.

Mr Morrissey accused Mr Thompson of doing the Government’s “dirty work” by making such big cuts in spending and jobs, accusing the corporation of “salami slicing”.

The BBC said it will build on its current efficiency programme, which has already seen savings of more than £1 billion since 2008/09, to release a further £400 million of savings per year by 2016/17.

The BBC Trust said it had been assessing this work with the help of independent advisers, adding that the savings will be achieved by a more flexible workforce which “reduces duplication of expertise”, streamlining the use of technology, continuing to reduce the number of senior managers and increasing production outside London.

A series of meetings will be held at BBC offices across the United Kingdom today when staff will be told how the cuts will affect them, while union leaders will meet senior management later.

Today’s report states BBC bosses considered “the possibility of shutting one or more services entirely” but rejected the idea on value-for-money grounds.

It states: “The decision to share Formula One motor-racing rights with BSkyB, for example, will save the BBC more cash between now and the end of the charter than we would have saved by shutting one of the smaller TV channels.”

The sports rights budget will see a 15 per cent cut, which includes the decision to share Formula One rights.

The Asian Network radio station, which was previously threatened with closure, will lose a third of its “service licence budget reduction”.

PA