The BBC is a people-heavy organisation, that plays by agreed rules on job announcements. Therefore, this month, you can expect news of cuts to be implemented in financial year 2023/24, giving some time for negotiations with the unions, and some time to get people out of the door before April.
BBC management secured a pay deal in May which put the pay bill up by 5.2% from August till the end of the financial year, at a time when inflation was running at 7%. Now it stands at 8.6%. As the BBC seems to delight in telling us, broadcast cost inflation tends to run ahead of the general UK rate.
In July, the BBC calculated that, with the frozen two year licence fee and inflation, it would need to find £285m of savings by 2027/28. Some analysts are now forecasting inflation to peak at 14% to 15% in the last quarter of 2022/23. Last week, World Service had to take 12% out of its licence fee funding. Imagine if that was replicated across the piece. And it might not be enough.
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