BBC to put a cap on redundancy payments

The BBC will consult on proposals for a redundancy & severance pay cap of £150k for all senior managers, Tony Hall has announced.

Under the proposals, changes will be made to redundancy, severance entitlement and notice periods for all senior managers including the BBC Director-General himself.

Tony Hall said: “The BBC cannot be deaf to concerns about BBC staff pay-offs. These are difficult economic times for people across the country and the BBC is not immune from them. The financial settlements of the past cannot be justified in the future. We will consult on these proposals over the coming weeks but I believe they represent a fair way forward for staff and for licence fee payers.

“I appreciate that making changes to existing contracts is never easy. But it is to the great credit of the senior leadership team at the BBC that there is broad recognition of the need for change.”

The proposals would entitle senior managers to redundancy of one month’s pay for each year of service up to a maximum of 12 months’ salary or £150,000 – whichever is the lower. This brings the BBC into greater alignment with other industry comparators and the Civil Service who have a similar eligible pay cap.

As part of the new guidelines, all BBC Executive Board members would have their notice period reduced from 12 months to 6 months. Where staff resign or are made redundant they would be expected to work their notice in full.

Where termination discussions were already underway for those senior staff members planning to leave between now and September the BBC will not seek to impose these new conditions and we are working with these individuals to find the best way forward. In a small number of cases this may mean some staff leaving with settlements above £150,000 but these negotiations are ongoing.

The BBC will consult on the new proposals with relevant staff and unions which are planned to come into force from September 1st 2013.