{"id":457437,"date":"2026-05-19T23:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T23:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/457437\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T23:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T23:27:10","slug":"rte-boss-declines-to-set-savings-target-for-change-management-consultant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/457437\/","title":{"rendered":"RT\u00c9 boss declines to set savings target for \u2018change management\u2019 consultant"},"content":{"rendered":"

RT\u00c9 has refused to say how much it is paying a \u201cchange management\u201d consultant, or to set a target for cost savings arising out of his recommendations.<\/p>\n

Consultant Sam Whipple, who worked as a \u201cchange co-ordinator\u201d at the BBC, has been tasked to examine how RT\u00c9 is structured and resourced and to identify areas to \u201cimprove workflows\u201d and \u201cdelivery\u201d across TV, radio, online and social media.<\/p>\n

His review started at the end of April and is expected to last 40 days.<\/p>\n

The work comes as RT\u00c9 continues to reduce its headcount by 400 over five years through voluntary exits, resignations and retirements as part of its overall cost-saving strategy<\/p>\n

Whipple\u2019s review was not required to be publicly tendered and it is therefore understood to cost less than \u20ac50,000.<\/p>\n

However, RT\u00c9\u2019s director-general Kevin Bakhurst refused to provide a specific figure on what Whipple was being paid and declined to put a figure on how much in savings he was expected to identify.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe RT\u00c9 boss said a consultant could help deliver significant savings and new ideas (Liam McBurney\/PA)<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, he said: \u201cI think it\u2019s really important that you know people like Sam are brought into an organisation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some areas the organisation that work really efficiently and some areas where there are probably more efficiencies or new work practices or new investments in technology that we need to bring in.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cYou spend a certain amount on bringing in consultants, not a huge amount, but you spend a certain amount, and in the end it will lead to very significant savings and new ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s really important to keep testing the organisation to make sure we\u2019re as efficient as we can in terms of spending licence fee money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked how much his services cost, he said: \u201cI\u2019m not going to give the number now, but it\u2019s not significant in terms of what we might save.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pressed on how much RT\u00c9 expected to save following Whipple\u2019s work, he said: \u201cIt depends on what he comes up with as his suggestions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bakhurst also said he knew Whipple when they both worked at the BBC.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t work that closely with him, but I knew him there.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe left the BBC a long time ago, he\u2019s got an extremely good reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RTERT\u00c9 has committed to reducing staff numbers (Liam McBurney\/PA)<\/p>\n

Trevor Keegan, joint chair of the RT\u00c9 Trade Union Group, said unions had rejected the management strategy of the broadcaster\u2019s leadership team.<\/p>\n

He said they were not in favour of a strategy of \u201cfarming out\u201d craft jobs within RT\u00c9 to the independent sector.<\/p>\n

Keegan said this was not creating new ideas or creativity in the private sector, but would instead be moving shows outside of RT\u00c9 that had been honed by its staff and crew for decades.<\/p>\n

He told the Press Association that unions were against the voluntary exit programme and did not want to see \u201croles and content decimated\u201d.<\/p>\n

Whipple has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RT\u00c9 has refused to say how much it is paying a \u201cchange management\u201d consultant, or to set a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282],"class_list":["post-457437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}