New Set of Cost Cuts at the BBC

LONDON: The BBC will drop the amount it spends on its senior management by 25 percent by mid 2013, and is looking to reduce the total number of senior managers by 18 percent in the same period.

The new round of cost-cutting proposals also include a freeze on the pay of executive directors, members of the BBC Direction Group (which includes the executive board and other senior divisional directors) and the director-general for three additional years, as well as the indefinite suspension of bonuses for all executive directors and members of the BBC Direction Group. Bonuses for other directors and senior managers will be frozen for two additional years. The freeze on senior management salaries has been extended to at least August 2011.

BBC Trust’s chairman, Sir Michael Lyons, said: "The Trust challenged the BBC Executive to review senior pay at the BBC. Mark Thompson and his team have responded with a comprehensive set of proposals that strike the right balance between ensuring the BBC can attract the best people to do the job, while ensuring maximum value for the license fee payer. Of course I realise this will have implications both for current and future BBC employees. However, it is right that as a major public-service organization, the BBC shows leadership on this issue during difficult economic times."

Mark Thompson, the director-general of the BBC, added: "The review published today demonstrates that the BBC is already achieving a significant discount against peer group organizations in its remuneration of senior managers. Nonetheless, I and every other senior manager need to recognize that we are in a different economic climate, that the media sector labour markets are depressed and that there are significant pressures on public finances. A few months ago we announced our determination to reduce the amount we pay top on-air talent. The recommendations we have announced today seek to achieve similar reductions within our senior management community. Senior managers will see their total remuneration fall over the period, with the biggest reductions felt by those in the most senior positions."