BBC to cut 115 jobs in Nations and Regions editorial and production

Posted by Admin September 4, 2024 Jobs

A BBC employee holds a placard outside Broadcasting House in central London during a strike on February 18, 2013. Picture: Carl Court/AFP via Getty Images

The BBC is planning to cut up to 115 editorial and production jobs in the Nations and Regions.

Staff have been told about 40 to 45 jobs are expected to be cut at BBC Local in England by next year.

About 25 to 30 job closures are expected in Wales, the same number in Scotland, and ten to 12 in Northern Ireland.

A note to staff in BBC Wales, BBC Scotland and BBC Northern Ireland, seen by Press Gazette, promised that management would aim to “deliver the savings without closing any major services”, make “smart, targeted savings – focusing our resources on the areas that deliver maximum value for audiences”, “maintain our online growth across News, iPlayer, Sport and Sounds ” and “avoid disrupting those areas that saw the biggest changes last time round”.

News teams across England have already seen “devastating” cuts, the NUJ said, with 450 jobs lost across TV, radio and online in 2020 and then greater programme sharing being introduced across many local radio stations. Some jobs have also been created, including 130 journalism roles in local news last year.

The BBC is aiming to fulfil the job cut target through voluntary redundancies and a four-week window for volunteers has now opened.

A BBC spokesperson said: “We have been clear that the significant funding pressures we face means that every division in the BBC needs to make savings. In July we said that we expected to see an overall reduction of around 500 BBC public service roles by March 2026.

“BBC Nations announced today that it expects to close up to 115 posts in editorial and production teams by next year as part of these plans. This represents around 3% of the division’s staffing. A number of further redundancies are anticipated in the division’s operations departments, but these will be shared directly with the teams affected first.

“While challenging, we aim to make these savings – as far as is possible – through voluntary redundancy and we can confirm that we expect to deliver the changes without closing any major services. In addition, there will no programme changes or savings impacting on BBC Local Radio output.”

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said: “Coming on the back of a painful cull across BBC Local, these latest cuts across its regions and nations will further hollow out local news provision at a time when resources are stretched to breaking point.”

The BBC’s target for annual savings is currently £500m but Davie said earlier this year this needed to rise, meaning an extra £200m in savings per year is needed.

As of 31 March the BBC’s public service headcount had dropped by 8.5% since 2018/19 to 19,231. Outside of local news cuts in recent years have affected areas like Newsnight, BBC World Service and the BBC News and BBC World News channels when they merged, although jobs have also been created largely in digital areas.

NUJ senior organiser Laura Davison said: “These cuts have come about because of the repeated failure of previous governments to properly fund the UK’s public service broadcaster. Licence fee freezes, making the corporation fund free licences for the over-75s, and subsequent small increases have left the BBC in a perilous state.

“The BBC boasts that it has moved some of its programmes and news departments outside London, in a project ambitiously called ‘Across The UK’. But what we see today is a potential significant further reduction in roles that truly serve our Nations and Regions.

“We are further concerned that colleagues who are left behind will have to pick up the workload done by those who are leaving. Again, we have already seen the consequences of this in England, with many local radio stations now having afternoon news bulletins pre-recorded by neighbouring stations or sharing output across large regions with no shared identity. Further savings will inevitably have an impact on output in the devolved nations.”

Davison continued: “As ever, we will work to avoid compulsory redundancies, maximise redeployment opportunities and ensure there is a proper assessment of workloads and stress. We welcome the BBC’s recognition that recent job cuts have been really grim for all staff involved.

“We call on the Secretary of State, Lisa Nandy, to give a firm commitment to urgently and properly funding the BBC. In particular, we ask that she places valued local and regional output at the heart of the current charter renewal negotiations and ensures that Ofcom hold the BBC to its commitments in the Nations and Regions beyond 2027.”

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