Up the workers

There'll be more than the usual twitchiness from on-air talent as they open BBC envelopes from next week. 13,000 currently have "off-payroll" contracts - and as those contracts come to an end, the letters will reveal whether or not the BBC has deemed they should be on staff (with all the pay freezes, iffy pensions, and public scrutiny that now implies).

Apparently the test assesses the creative input you bring to your role - presumably if you choose your own clothers and write the odd intro without supervision, you can remain a free spirit; but if you just read out stuff and do as you're told, you're sufficiently un-creative (dull/drone-like) to be a full member of staff. How uplifting for those already fully indentured to Auntie.

In a similar exercise, what's called "off-air talent" - 16,000 production freelancers - are being assessed, with the expectation that over 3,000 could end up as staff - thus putting the BBC headcount back close to 20,000.