BBC pay demand ‘made us suicidal’

TWO BBC journalists told MPs they were driven to the brink of suicide after allegedly being forced into a pay arrangement.

They say the BBC made them set up Personal Service Companies to receive their earnings as if they were contractors, rather than employees.

HM Revenue & Customs is now pursuing many for unpaid back taxes.

The BBC has denied forcing anyone to use PSCs, which allowed it to avoid employer’s National Insurance and benefits like holiday and sickness pay.

But statements published last night by the House of Commons’ Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee tell of people compelled to set them up or lose pay and work.

Today the committee will quiz some of those affected, including Radio 6 Music presenter Liz Kershaw, Radio 4 Front Row’s Kirsty Lang, Money Box star Paul Lewis and Stuart Linnell of Radio Northampton.

One person wrote: “The way the BBC has behaved… is one of the factors that three days ago took me into my loft where I tried to hang myself.”

Another said they thought of suicide “with the spectre of retrospective action from HMRC hanging over me daily”.

Charles Nove of BBC Radio Oxford said he feared homelessness “should the BBC insist on pursuing the recovery of tax they unilaterally decided to pay on my behalf”.