Balance sheet

I'd hate to be really difficult about this, but the Guardian, itself facing a new round of job cuts, is being a little naive in totalling up this week's BBC 'savings' on departing staff.

Here's an extract from Mark Sweeney's piece.

"The departure of Hadlow means the BBC has saved almost £1m in salaries: Hadlow (£235,050), Cohen (£317,800), Shillinglaw (£227,800) and Yentob (£183,300)."

On the other side of the balance sheet: I suspect the new Controller TV Channels, Charlotte Moore will get a salary rise (from her present package of £268k). Kim Shillinglaw's post, as Controller of BBC2 and BBC4, is being closed, thus she is entitled to redundancy. She joined Auntie in 2006, so, with a month of her final salary times ten, as a pay-off calculation, she'll easily reach the Lord Hall cap of £150k.

If the HR department, under the constant vigilance of Valerie Hughes D'Aeth, can be persuaded to declare Janice Hadlow's role in special projects a real job, she's also redundant, and entitled to £150k. When Hadlow stepped down from BBC2, Adam Barker became Acting Controller, with, presumably, some salary enhancement.  He gets Acting Editor now with Kim Shillinglaw going - another little wedge. And there wasn't a post of Editor BBC2 before, so the whole of Shillinglaw's salary won't be saved - perhaps a post in the lower ranks of the Channel will close.

So in headline terms, the "saving" halves. The real money will come if the people who surround tv executives go as well - the business managers, chief assistants, advisors, PAs etc. It would be enetertaining to know if presenter Alan Yentob still retains an office and PA in his role as Chairman of BBC Films...