BBC’s £22million perk for working late

THE BBC handed its staff £22million in bonuses over the last year – because their jobs may involve getting up early in the morning or finishing late at night on occasion.

The Corporation paid the perk as an ‘unpredictability allowance (UPA)’ to those whose shifts do not follow a set pattern and can change at short notice. The payouts went to almost 5,000 staff, averaging about £4,500 per employee, on top of their salary, over a 12-month period beginning September 1, 2015, according to a Mail on Sunday Freedom of Information request.

Critics accused the BBC of misusing the licence fee. Lib Dem MP John Hemming said: ‘The BBC doesn’t seem to be worried about money or the licence fee-payers’ money. They seem to be quite happy with the excesses that other broadcasters would not do.’ And John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘This is a huge amount of licence fee-payers’ money going on a notion of set and predictable hours which the rest of the industry doesn’t seem to follow.

‘With families struggling with rising bills, the bosses at the Beeb need to do everything they possibly can to keep costs down and that should include looking into these anomalous pay policies.’

However, the BBC said: ‘It’s impossible to broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week without employing people to work through the night. Like most organisations we reflect this in our pay structure.

‘However we’re always looking to make savings and UPA has come down by £11million since 2009.’