Stars expose BBC ‘tax lies’
THE BBC is lying about its tax affairs, according to 170 presenters who have produced emails they say prove that the corporation pressured them to stay off the payroll or risk losing their jobs.
The group, which includes some of Britain’s best-known broadcasters, said the BBC was attempting to shift “the moral and financial burden” of its mismanagement on to presenters.
Many of those who followed BBC advice to set up personal service companies (PSCS) are now being pursued by HMRC over unpaid tax.
The BBC said yesterday that no presenter was “forced” to use PSCS.
But in a statement to The Daily Telegraph, the 170-strong group said: “Presenters were told that if they did not form a PSC, the BBC would no longer give them any work. Many of them did not want to set up a PSC but felt they had no choice.”
MORE than 170 BBC presenters have produced emails they say back their claim that the corporation has lied over its tax affairs.
In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, the group said the organisation was misleading the public over the use of personal service companies. “We represent a group of more than 170 BBC presenters who, in the last few months, have been observing the conduct of the corporation’s management and business affairs team with growing dismay,” it reads.
They have emails, seen by The Telegraph, which appear to disprove the BBC’S claim that no presenters were “forced” to switch to personal service companies (PSCS), a situation that allowed the corporation to avoid paying employer’s National Insurance contributions and other benefits. The signatories to the statement are known to The Telegraph but have chosen to remain anonymous out of fear they will be blacklisted by management. One source said: “We have seen the briefing against Carrie Gracie [the BBC China editor who spoke out about equal pay] and how vicious that has been.”
The emails offer jobs on the condition that the money is funnelled via a personal service company. One states that without such an arrangement, work would only be available “on an ad hoc basis with no guaranteed commitment” while others say offers “will be contingent on the provision of services via a company”.
The presenters were spurred into action after The Sunday Telegraph reported a growing anger over what one star described as the BBC’S “industriallevel tax avoidance”, and the BBC issued a defence. While the group includes a number of stars on £150,000 or more, many are local and regional presenters earning £35,000 or less.
“We are the faces and voices of the BBC but most of us are not highly paid,” they said. “Those of us in this group are mainly not employed by the BBC in the sense of having jobs that entitle us to basic statutory benefits such as sick pay, maternity pay, holiday pay, redundancy rights, or a pension.”
Their statement goes on: “The BBC did in effect force many presenters, both staff and freelance, into setting up PSCS. Presenters were told that if they did not form a PSC, the BBC would no longer give them any work. Many of them did not want to set up a PSC but felt they had no choice. To suggest that working through a PSC was a free choice is simply nonsense – and the BBC knows it is untrue.”
The BBC said: “We reject the notion that our statement is incorrect. The law was clear that prior to 2017, where an individual had a PSC it was their responsibility to pay the correct tax. Many individuals were offered the opportunity to move on to staff contracts but rejected this.
“The BBC is aware of all the issues in this letter. We remain committed to fully supporting all our on air presenters through this transition.”