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BBC Spends £277m On 6,000 Redundancy Packages Since 2005

Posted: 17/04/2012 10:14 Updated: 17/04/2012 13:29   PA

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The BBC has claimed the £277m redundancy package is balanced by over £2.5bn of savings

The BBC has spent almost £277 million on redundancy payments to nearly 6,000 staff in the past seven years.

An average of £46,200 was paid to staff between March 2005 and February 2012, MediaGuardian reported, following a freedom of information request.

The highest individual redundancy payment was £949,000, followed by £600,000 and £435,000.

The BBC did not release the names of staff or their job titles while giving details of the 20 biggest redundancy payments during the period.

But former deputy director general Mark Byford received £949,000 as compensation for loss of office, according to the 2010/11 annual report.

The BBC defended the costs of £276.83 million, saying that they were outweighed by cumulative savings of £2.7 billion over the period.

Some of the payments to the 5,992 staff, who took either compulsory or voluntary redundancy, include extra money paid in lieu of holiday, MediaGuardian said.

Employees who have at least two years' continuous service at the BBC 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 months' pay.

The redundancies are part of the BBC's cost-cutting programmes, which are designed to save £6.2 billion 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 £2.7 billion."

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The BBC has spent almost £277 million on redundancy payments to nearly 6,000 staff in the past seven years. An average of £46,200 was paid to staff between March 2005 and February 2012, MediaGuar...
The BBC has spent almost £277 million on redundancy payments to nearly 6,000 staff in the past seven years. An average of £46,200 was paid to staff between March 2005 and February 2012, MediaGuar...
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waddytog
97 Fans
11:45 AM on 04/18/2012
and that money is from people suffering under severe austerity measures from their licence payments.
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edds
23 Fans
11:19 AM on 04/18/2012
I just got my TV licence reminder £145. It's nice to see where it all goes
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mikewilliams2000
3 Fans
08:20 AM on 04/18/2012
Whats new!! Tax payers money!!! Oh just give it away!! When is someone really going to have the courage to stop the misuse of the publics money that they have worked their little cotton socks off for.
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stoke
44 Fans
10:27 PM on 04/17/2012
Not unlike many local authorities they employed far to many people to keep the unemployment figures artificially low. No doubt on the instructions of Labour who just want to spend money we did not have Shame on them.
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Stevie Bee
21 Fans
09:17 PM on 04/17/2012
When (not if) the BBC is eventually run into the ground, and all you get is similar rubbish that is broadcast abroad or on ITV; those pulling the BBC down will be asking where it all went. It will be too late then...As for redundancy; it's called a contract. If you signed one that entitled you to a redundancy package, you'd no doubt forego it, happy in the knowledge that you were doing your bit?...No, I don't think you would either.
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edds
23 Fans
11:17 AM on 04/18/2012
The BBC is already there
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oldeastlancs
9 Fans
08:34 PM on 04/17/2012
bet loads re employed on a part time basis or as adviser,s
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Boll X
33 Fans
08:09 PM on 04/17/2012
All aboard the gravy train
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tractorgirl
58 Fans
08:09 PM on 04/17/2012
Be careful what you wish for!!

No Beeb, when travelling abroad would be tragic.. The only reason why the bill is high because the Ideology of "Lets get rid of any worth while public services”.

I had a conversation with my local Conservative District Councilor the other day...

Firstly he went on the pointless worthless rant, "we had to do it, because of what Labour did"- so I replied rubbish, how do you count for the whole demise practically of Europe.

Then I got, from someone who has had his work (Farm) past down to him.

High employment is collateral damage !!!!

Whilst we are dumping people on the dole queue, we need to be mindful that those people may well be simply just collateral damage to the rich and fortunate, however they stuff up the economy as these are the people who feed their money back into the British economy!!!
These are truly misguided arrogant and narrow minded times..
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paphos44
64 Fans
07:37 PM on 04/17/2012
As long as the gulible public keep on paying a licence fee, it will never change. The BBC operate the worst form of highway robbery ever known in the UK. I avoided paying a TV licence for over 26 years and even now it is only ever paid by my partner as I vowed when I left school that I would never pay for a licence, and I have kept true to my word so it just goes to show, if you are determined enough and not afraid of these hitlers then anything is possible. Believe me I know because I have proved it.
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blujag
25 Fans
06:38 PM on 04/17/2012
These greedy civil servants and the bbc staff should be in the same boat as the rest of us. But as usual we sit back and let these creeps treat us like mugs.
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zak dobermann
37 Fans
05:37 PM on 04/17/2012
The BBC does not really care. The BBC does not pay the over inflated redundancy costs, the taxpayer, as usual, foots the bill.

Amazing how the public sector quite happily doles out huge amounts of money - money they do not have to find. It is a totally different matter, when the private sector makes people redundant. The private sector follow the government rules on redundancy.
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majdf18148
I have nothing to declare but my curiosity
248 Fans
05:22 PM on 04/17/2012
Ask about the costs of redundancy applicable to the demise of the 130 or so Primary Care Trusts that will disappear as part of the new NHS reforms. There will be an enormous bill acquired from the redundancy of several thousand admin workers and management staff, many of whom will walk straight into similar or identical jobs in the newly formed GP consortia.The BBC is not alone in extravagently wasting taxpayers money.
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PCMyrs
51 Fans
04:17 PM on 04/17/2012
What do you expect? Successive Governments have sought to emasculate the BBC, encouraged by their paymasters like Murdoch. We will be very sorry when we are left with a pathetic rump of a BBC like PBS channels in USA.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Fozwords
Abandon hope when you post on here
192 Fans
05:26 PM on 04/17/2012
Oh I think BBC is great another year and I will know all the words to all the dads army and morecambe and wise sketches.
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PCMyrs
51 Fans
06:36 PM on 04/17/2012
You will definitely enjoy it when it becomes like US PBS, believe it or not they show a lot of that too!
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Macready
2507 Fans
01:55 PM on 04/17/2012
I wonder what the real long-term savings will be from these redundancies . . . . I suspect not much in real terms . . . . just another example of short-term thinking
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Fozwords
Abandon hope when you post on here
192 Fans
05:27 PM on 04/17/2012
It will let the rest of the dodgers stay in even higher class hotels get better taxis and have bigger allowances
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