Big numbers

Nine months after the question was asked, the BBC has revealed headcount and wage bill by division, as at March 2016.

News is the monster - still with 7,248 staff on the books (almost 37% of the workforce), incurring a wage bill of £371.5m. Average salary works out at £51,261. That compares with £49,326 for 'Radio' and a mere £48,673 for 'Television'. Well done to Director of Content (TV) Charlotte Moore (that's despite 6.7% of her workforce being paid at is-it-management-or-not Grade 11, compared with 2% in News).

At least 9% of staff are paid above the roof of their published salary grade.

If you plan to publish or broadcast a story using the information provided in this response please include the following statement from the BBC. 

A BBC spokesperson said: “A number of steps were taken to create a leaner BBC and decrease workforce costs specifically at Senior Manager grade. A combination of headcount reductions and pay restraint has saved £150m a year and now only 6% of the BBC’s controllable spend goes on running the organisation.”