BBC to Cut More Than 1,000 Jobs

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The BBC has announced its plan to cut more than 1,000 jobs, i.e. 5 per cent of its workforce, in light of the unexpectedly growing number of UK households not paying an annual license fee. The broadcaster’s director-general, Tony Hall, vowed to move towards a “simpler, leaner, BBC” as he admitted that current funding pressures demanded “very tough choices”. The BBC primarily raises its finances from an annual licence fee of £145.50 levied on all households watching live television.

In a statement issued by BBC, it highlighted that “as more people rely on devices like iPlayer, mobiles and online catch up, the percentage of households owning televisions is falling faster than predicted. This means they don’t always pay the television licence fee.” The job cuts are anticipated to save more than £50m to the company. A consultant at Oliver & Ohlbaum, Mark Oliver, alleged that BBC’s message was “we’re on top of things, there’s no fat.”

The circumstances developing support BBC’s proposal to levy the licence fee to all those watching on-demand shows. A committee of MPs is considering to make the licence fee applicable to all households, whether or not they watch TV shows, following a similar change in Germany. Currently, the BBC plans to cut costs by 40 per cent within five years, without significantly changing its output on TV, radio or online. The BBC claims that its cost-cutting is so far only focused on “administration and property costs, pay and headcount restraint, plus tough decisions like more daytime repeats and shared sports rights.”