BBC News told staff today (Tuesday 20th October) that the division will close more than 100 roles over the coming months, saving around £5.5 million among a fresh wave of cuts across the national broadcaster.
Rachel Jupp (pictured left), the BBC’s new director of news, announced the savings plan in an internal email, telling staff: “I know this will be very difficult news for those affected.”
She added: “We will continue to work closely with colleagues and trade unions throughout the consultation process and will do everything we can to minimise the need for compulsory redundancies.”
READ MORE: Location pros head to Manchester for second annual UK Location Manager Awards
Jupp also warned that more is to come. BBC News has previously announced that it must contribute £51M of savings to the corporation’s overall cost reduction target of £500M.
The £5.5M takes its running total contribution to £30.5M, meaning that at least a further £20m will still need to be saved. “These proposals are necessary, but they are not sufficient to meet our funding reduction,” Jupp said. “Given the BBC’s financial pressures, the savings requirement for News could increase.”
The former Panorama editor said she will disclose further details in early 2027 after “looking at costs across BBC News to have the fullest possible financial picture.”
Separately, BBC Media Tech, the division that powers online services like iPlayer, has announced 110 role closures, while alongside the News announcement the broadcaster today confirmed rumours that the BBC Scotland linear channel, which was only created in 2019, is to be axed and move to BBC iPlayer only in spring next year, resulting in 10 job losses on top of the 60 BBC Scotland redundancies already announced. BBC Three is also set to go online only next year for the second time, having previously moved to iPlayer in 2016 then revived on linear in 2022. Radio 4 Extra, which pulled in 1.4m listeners a week according to RAJAR, will be closed down after it was decided much of its content could be accessed digitally via the BBC Sounds app.
The BBC added that many programmes currently shown on the linear TV channel would be available online or on BBC One or BBC Two in Scotland, although the nightly News at Seven programme will close.
Director of BBC Scotland, Hayley Valentine (right), said: “Against the backdrop of significant financial challenges, we must focus our resources where they will have the greatest impact for audiences.”
The latest cuts come as the BBC faces rising cost pressures against a background of ongoing inflationary challenges and a situation in which 94% of the UK population use the BBC every month, but fewer than 80% pay their licence fee.
BBC director general Matt Brittin said in a note to staff: “We would all prefer immediate certainty. However, it unfortunately takes time to develop proposals that ensure we focus scarcer resources on the shows, stories and services that can have the biggest impact.”
