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BBC News is braced for a major round of job cuts to be revealed within days, in an announcement that will kick off a brutal cost-saving drive designed to save £500m across the corporation.
The cuts could come as soon as Wednesday, with staff already told to expect a high number of redundancies. Job losses could run into the hundreds.
It comes with the new BBC director general, Matt Brittin, indicating that there would not be a “salami slicing” approach to savings, suggesting that he prefers to make more decisive decisions over cutting entire services or programmes.
While many inside the BBC welcome the former Google executive’s approach, it will lead to some opposition in practice.
The news operation is braced for larger cuts than other departments. BBC News employs about a quarter of the corporation’s 21,500 employees.
While Brittin is now at the helm, the plans for the cuts – the biggest at the broadcaster in 15 years – were already being drawn up before his arrival. It comes as the corporation’s leaders are negotiating with ministers over its future funding.
During a video meeting held with BBC News personnel last month, staff were told to expect significantly deeper cuts than the 10% pan-BBC target.
“Most of our savings are people, frankly,” Richard Burgess, the director of news and content, is understood to have told staff.
“[The cuts will be] 15% of our income. Our income is not entirely salary bill, as we have other things as well, although it is the majority. Ultimately, [10% is] a figure across the whole of the BBC, but that doesn’t take into account that there are areas it’s just not possible to make cuts in.”
In an email to staff in April, the BBC’s deputy director general, Rhodri Talfan Davies, said the corporation as a whole had to save an additional £500m from annual operating costs of £5bn over the next two years. He said job numbers would fall by up to 2,000.
Signs of the corporation’s attempts to save money have already been a point of discussion during the World Cup. The BBC has opted to have its presenters and pundits cover the tournament, hosted in the US, Canada and Mexico, from Salford.
Its new studio will then be used for Match of the Day once the tournament is over. However, Kevin Hollinrake, the Conservative chair, is among those to criticise the BBC for damaging the “viewer experience”.
The cuts will show a willingness from the BBC’s leadership to make tough calls as they negotiate over the future of the corporation with ministers, as part of the talks over its royal charter.
Both sides are examining whether the licence fee would be extended to include anyone who watches private streaming services. Currently, a licence fee is only needed if someone is watching live TV on any platform.
However, many insiders argue the streaming revolution has made that definition outdated.
Philippa Childs, the head of the Bectu union, said: “News of impending cuts across the BBC brings the importance of a sustainable funding model into sharp focus. In the era of fake news, high-quality independent news programming is even more important and its integrity must be preserved.
“The BBC also produces some of the best dramas, entertainment and documentaries in the world, with a uniquely British flavour. It is a necessary outpost against the homogenisation of content and a huge part of what makes British culture unique.”
