Rhodri Talfan Davies warns of BBC’s ‘difficult choices’ as it aims to cut up to 2,000 jobs
The BBC’s interim director-general (DG) Rhodri Talfan Davies has confirmed up to 2,000 staff are set to be laid off as the UK public service broadcaster looks to make £500m (US$675m) in savings over the next two years.
He warned that “big and difficult choices” lie ahead, with the corporation due to announce where the axe will fall between July and September.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s The Media Show, Davies said all staff had been informed about the impending redundancies and the scale of the efficiencies the broadcaster now needs to find.
“The growing financial pressures have crystalized into what we’ve described as a £500m savings challenge,” he said. “That’s equivalent to about 10% of the BBC’s cost base that we will need to cut over the next two years.
“Sadly, that will have an impact inevitably on the headcount and the number of staff working for the BBC, which we think will be in the order of about 1,800 to 2,000 over the next two years. So, really difficult news for staff.
“For audiences particularly, the job in hand now over the next three or four months is to work through how we make those changes without damaging the services that we know are critical to the BBC across radio, television and online. We expect to say more about that between July and September this year.”
The severe cuts were first hinted at in March, when the BBC published its annual plan. The 101-page document warned the broadcaster was “at risk like never before” and radical reform would likely lead to the corporation slashing both commissioning levels and the services it provides.
Talking to The Media Show, interim DG Davies explained that the dire financial situation had been mainly caused by production inflation remaining “stubbornly high” and a significant drop in licence fee income.
He was asked if the scale of the savings needed will result in the shuttering of channels or a large reduction in commissioning levels.
“At this stage the best thing for me to say is we need to look at everything,” Davies replied. “At a scale of £500m, inevitably there are going to be some big and some difficult choices, but we do need to step through this carefully, and I think audiences would expect us to.
“They pay for us, they own us, and it’s important that we are incredibly mindful and precise about how we deliver the savings without damaging that relationship that they have with us.”
Media Show presenter Katie Razzall pressed Davies, asking if the huge cuts should be seen as a failure of leadership. She cited a recent BBC internal survey that revealed only 34% of staff said they had confidence in the company’s executive leadership team.
Davies said: “Well, let’s be clear. We’ve already delivered £700m of savings over the last four years, but the factors and the pressures bearing down on the BBC financially have increased in recent months.
“We knew we would have a savings requirement over the next two or three years, but it has grown quite significantly over those last five or six months.
“In February, we were very clear that we faced a half-a-billion-pound challenge. I guess the new news today is being clear with staff that we expect, as part of that challenge, the overall headcount to drop.”
Matt Brittin
Photo: Matt Brittin
Davies started his temporary role earlier this month, after previous DG Tim Davie exited due to the controversy surrounding a Panorama documentary about Donald Trump.
Davies will remain in charge until new DG, former Google exec Matt Brittin, arrives on May 18.
He was asked if the BBC will reduce the amount it spends on management consultants, as well as on travel and accommodation costs incurred by sending executives to conference events around the world.
Davies replied: “We’ve been very clear with all teams today that we need to bear down on costs. We’ve been very explicit that we want to reduce our expenditure on management consultancies.
“We want to reduce general travel expenditure across the BBC. They will make a meaningful contribution.”
