The BBC’s director general has conceded there is a real prospect of strikes at the broadcaster, as he faces a continuing dispute over pay and pushes ahead with plans to cut as many as 2,000 jobs.
In a call with staff on Tuesday, Matt Brittin faced a series of questions over the corporation’s plans for huge cuts, as well as pay talks in which staff rejected an average 2.1% salary increase.
With staff across the BBC already anxious over job cut plans, to be announced in the next few weeks, Brittin acknowledged there was a serious prospect of strike action.
“I understand that there might be [strikes],” he told staff. “I think it would be difficult. But I think we have to face the fact that we are in a really disruptive time for the entire industry. So I hope that people listening to this and talking to colleagues and union leaders as well understand where we are.”
Brittin, who took on the BBC’s top job in May, is overseeing cuts designed to save £500m by 2028. The plan was drawn up before his arrival, but he is attempting to make significant changes to reshape the BBC as part of the process.
He acknowledged there was anger that the alleged failure to grasp the BBC’s financial problems earlier had meant the corporation now needed to make deep cuts.
Brittin pointed to previous internal findings that the BBC’s licence fee income had fallen by about £1.3bn in real terms over the past decade.
He said about 60% of the reduction was due to government decisions such as freezing the licence fee, while about 40% reflected a fall in the number of households paying for a licence amid the rise of streamers and digital platforms.
Brittin repeated that he had not fully understood the extent of the BBC’s financial woes when he started the job. He said the broadcaster had run out of reserve funds, while income from its commercial division had already been spent.
“There’s really not a lot of elbow room for anything,” he said. “That’s quite tough … that’s the context that we’re in.”
He suggested that increasing the pay offer further would hamper the BBC’s ability to reduce job cuts. “One per cent on pay for everybody is equivalent to about 180 jobs,” he said. Asked if it was a choice between job cuts and more pay, he said: “That’s the choice that you have to make at a management level … to award more, you’re going to have to find the money from elsewhere. The cupboard is bare.”
As part of the increased pay offer, he said the most senior executives would not receive a pay rise, while the lowest paid would get an increase above 2.5%.
Strike action by BBC staff would come as a huge blow, at a time when Brittin is championing its national importance as talks continue with the government over its future funding.
Such is the anger that it could yet result in the biggest strike in more than a decade. A strike over pay was called off at the last minute in 2014. Schedules were disrupted by a smaller strike in 2023 over job losses and changes to local programming.
Despite the BBC’s financial struggles, it still commands a unique place in global media as one of the most trusted brands in the world, and reaches 94% of adults every month in the UK.
During the staff call, several employees confronted Brittin and Kate Phillips, the BBC’s chief content officer, over the decision to renege on a guaranteed job offer made to a group of apprentices, as revealed by the Guardian earlier this month.
“I absolutely get the devastation that we can’t guarantee that now because of the recent savings challenges,” Phillips said. “I do know that [BBC News] are doing everything they can to find placements for those people.”
It comes with all traditional broadcasters facing financial pressure. Channel 4 is planning to cut 340 jobs, equating to 28% of its workforce.
