BBC to cut almost one in 10 staff to make £500m savings

BBC has announced it will cut between 1,800 and 2,000 jobs in an attempt to tackle "significant financial pressures". The broadcaster needs to make £500m savings over the next two years. Interim director general Rhodri Talfan Davies did not rule out axing entire channels or services.

Rhodri Talfan Davies said, "We need to look at everything, and at a scale of £500 million, inevitably there are going to be some big and some difficult choices, but we do need to step through this carefully." The BBC currently has about 21,500 full-time equivalent employees. Philippa Childs, head of broadcasting union Bectu, warned that "cuts of this magnitude" would be "devastating for the workforce and to the BBC as a whole". Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the BBC, "like every institution", has to make "difficult decisions".

The BBC will give more details later this year about how its services would be affected. Matt Brittin will officially succeed the recently departed Tim Davie on 18 May. The BBC is currently negotiating with the government about its future, and that of the licence fee, ahead of the renewal of its royal charter at the end of 2027.