{"id":486412,"date":"2026-03-20T20:09:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T20:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/486412\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T20:09:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T20:09:08","slug":"bbc-staffers-kick-up-stink-about-plans-to-cull-cleaners-at-london-hq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/486412\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC Staffers Kick Up Stink About Plans To Cull Cleaners At London HQ"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEXCLUSIVE: BBC<\/a> staffers often hold their noses at cost-cutting plans, but the latest effort to save money is proving too pongy for some.<\/p>\n

\n\tDeadline hears that the number of contract cleaners at the BBC\u2019s London headquarters will be slashed by 70% from 31 to nine, according to unhappy insiders. The changes were made after the BBC awarded a new facilities management contract.<\/p>\n

\n\tEmployees have kicked up a stink about the change in an internal letter amid anxiety that it will worsen what some see as already questionable hygiene standards at Broadcasting House. <\/p>\n

\n\tThere are also concerns that the cleaner cull could create genuine health and safety issues for the thousands of staff who work at the building.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne insider told Deadline: \u201cLots of people are not very happy about it. The place is disgusting as it is \u2014 dirty desks, dirty shared areas, toilets are often disgusting, mice running around \u2014 and now they want to cut back on cleaning.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tAnother person added that the reduction in cleaning contractors was \u201casking for trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA BBC spokesperson said: \u201cThe changes being made are a matter for our facilities management provider. We\u2019re satisfied our contractor can deliver our required standards and we\u2019ll be working with them as they transition to this new way of working. In addition, we will respond to staff who have signed the letter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tStories about vermin infestations at Broadcasting House, which cost \u00a31B ($1.3B) to build, have long been a source of fascination for British newspapers.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen the site opened in 2013, The Evening Standard reported that workers were told not to leave food on desks and to keep work areas tidy amid mice sightings. <\/p>\n

\n\tAs recently as 2024, The Sun claimed that The One Show\u2018s space at Broadcasting House was crawling with cockroaches.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s even a social media account, called Andy\u2019s Technology Mice, which posts internal gossip under the guise of \u201cthe mice that run the Big British Castle.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: BBC staffers often hold their noses at cost-cutting plans, but the latest effort to save money is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[243,96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-486412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-bbc","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}