BBC pays out £277m for redundancies

The BBC has spent millions on redundancy payments over the past seven years, a report claims

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."

©Press Association