Category: BBC

Date: 21.03.2005
Printable version

£221m a year savings in content and output areas by March 2008

2,050 posts to close - 13% reduction in headcount in content and output

total cost savings of £355m a year released to reinvest in programmes

BBC Director-General Mark Thompson today announced savings of £221m a year in the organisation's content and output areas by 2008, which will be reinvested back in to programmes.

Today's figures include the closure of 2,050 posts and represent a 13% reduction in headcount in content and output areas.

They follow the first round of 46% headcount savings announced two weeks ago in the BBC's Professional Service divisions amounting to £139m.

Annual costs savings by 2008 now total £355m - after a small contingency - which is ahead of the £320m target set last December.

This represents an overall 19% reduction in the BBC's UK public service workforce by 3,780 through redundancy, natural staff turnover and outsourcing.

Mr Thompson told all BBC staff: "This is all money we plan to spend on programmes and content, both to improve the services we deliver to audiences right now and to build strong BBC services in the future.

"All divisions are now finding ways of achieving these savings through genuine improvements rather than crude cuts."

He said that, over the coming months, there would be a lot of hard-edged activity across the BBC to make the changes real.

This would include revisiting the BBC's technology strategy, simpler processes, more prioritisation and rewarding people for excellent leadership.

Acknowledging that there were risks in undertaking change on such a large scale, Mr Thompson said: "We are going through the toughest period any of us can remember. It's a difficult and painful process but necessary.

"We need to free up money to start investing in our digital future, to end our current Charter in December 2006 on budget and to show we are serious about providing value for money."

The savings, by March 2008, break down as follows:

TV - 47 posts (18%). Savings £37m

Radio & Music - 150 posts (15%). Savings £9.4m

New Media Central - 58 posts (18%). Savings £7.7m

Nations and Regions - 735 posts (13%). Savings £54.4m

Drama, Entertainment and CBBC - 150 posts (10%). Savings £45.2m

Factual & Learning - 424 posts close (21%). Savings £22.9m

BBC News - 420 posts (12%). Savings £34.4m

BBC Sport - 66 posts (13%) Savings £9.9m

And

Professional Services - 1,730 posts (46%), Savings £139m.

All savings will be phased over the next three years through a combination of modernising production, eradicating duplication and reducing administrative support staff.

In terms of reinvestment, Mr Thompson said a balance had to be struck between investment to boost the quality of today's services and investment in services of the future.

But the savings meant that by 2008/09 there would be £355m of fresh investment each year.

Investment priorities include:

£47m a year by 2008 in TV drama on BBC ONE and BBC TWO

£45m for News, boosting original journalism, current affairs, Middle East news coverage and news on-demand

£52m for Nations & Regions' local output, plus an increased share of network TV spend

Investing in Building Public Value ideas, including £32m to help New Media develop platforms and navigation, on demand and two-way applications.

Mr Thompson said that investment in existing services could proceed, but new services needed to be piloted and tested.