BBC staff handed £277million in redundancy deals

THE BBC has paid out £277million in redundancy to almost 6,000 staff in the past seven years. More than £ 8million was spent on the top 20 deals for those whose jobs were cut between March 2005 and February this year.

Overall, the average pay-out was £46,200.

The highest individual payment was £949,000 – to former deputy director- general Mark Byford as compensation for loss of office.

But there are many other significant six-figure deals, including one for £600,000 and four more above £400,000. There were a dozen between £300,000 and £400,000. One of these went to marketing chief Sharon Baylay, who received £392,000.

Despite the 5,992 departure payouts, it is understood there are now only 3,369 fewer BBC employees than in 2005.

This is because over the sevenyear period concerned, the BBC created many new roles which needed filling in areas such as its iplayer service and BBC Persia.

The true cost of the deals – for staff who lost their jobs as a result of compulsory or voluntary redundancy – may be much higher because the figures do not include all payments made in lieu of unused leave. The figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, did not provide the names of staff or their job titles but simply gave the top 20 payments made during the period. The biggest pay- out, £ 949,000, matched the figure reported in the 2010/11 annual report given for Mr Byford’s departure.

The BBC defended the costs of

‘A frosty reception’

£276.83million, saying that they were outweighed by savings of £2.7billion over the period.

The figures mainly relate to two previous cost-cutting drives – the Value for Money and Continuous Improvement programmes. Others are as a result of the current Delivering Quality First scheme which will see BBC2 become a repeats channel in daytime.

Robert Oxley, of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: ‘The BBC has to find big savings and that will sadly mean some redundancy payments.

‘Six-figure pay- offs for BBC top brass will get a particularly frosty reception from licence-fee payers who are tightening their own belts.

‘Auntie needs to ensure that these pay-outs are not too generous, otherwise the cost of reducing staff numbers could easily outweigh any long-term savings.’

The highest yearly period for redundancy costs was March 2011 to February 2012, totalling almost £66.5million, a massive increase on the £26million from the previous year.

At the BBC employees who have at least two years’ continuous service are eligible for redundancy money, at a rate of one month’s salary for each completed year of continuous service, up to a maximum of 24 years.

Proposals have been put forward to reduce the redundancy to one month’s salary for each year of service up to a maximum of 12 years.

The BBC’S cost- cutting programmes covered by the figures are designed to save £6.2billion by 2017.

A BBC statement said: ‘ Since 2005, the BBC has made significant reductions in its headcount as part of overall efficiency savings. While this has necessitated some one- off redundancy costs, this is outweighed by the cumulative savings achieved over this period of £2.7billion.’