{"id":532319,"date":"2026-04-15T14:24:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/532319\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T14:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T14:24:14","slug":"bbc-to-cut-up-to-2000-jobs-in-biggest-downsize-in-15-years-bbc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/532319\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC to cut up to 2,000 jobs in biggest downsize in 15 years | BBC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/bbc\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BBC<\/a> is to cut as many as 2,000 jobs in the biggest down-sizing of the public service broadcaster in 15 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Staff were to be informed of the cuts, which will affect about 10% of the BBC\u2019s 21,500 staff, at an all-staff meeting on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The cuts, which are being set in motion before the former top Google executive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2026\/mar\/25\/new-bbc-director-general-matt-brittin-former-google-executive-olympic-rower\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Matt Brittin takes over as director general next month<\/a>, represents the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2011\/oct\/06\/bbc-cuts-2000-jobs?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">biggest round of BBC job cuts since 2011.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The corporation announced a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2026\/feb\/12\/trumps-lawsuit-bbc-panorama-edit-florida-trial-in-2027\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a3600m cost-cutting plan<\/a> in February, warning that it would result in job losses and the end of some programming.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Tim Davie, the outgoing director general, said at the time that the BBC would need to cut 10% of its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/aboutthebbc\/documents\/bbc-annual-report-and-accounts-24-25.pdf\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">approximately \u00a36bn annual cost base<\/a> over the next three years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Davie left the BBC on 2 April, having <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2025\/nov\/09\/tim-davie-expected-to-resign-bbc-director-general\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">announced his resignation in November<\/a> after controversy over coverage of issues including Donald Trump, Gaza and trans rights.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Rhodri Talfan Davies, the BBC\u2019s interim director general who is leading the all-staff meeting, first reported by the Financial Times, will continue to head the corporation until Brittin arrived on 18 May.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The BBC is in negotiations with the government over the renewal of its royal charter, which expires at the end of next year, including the licence fee funding mechanism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The licence fee increased in line with inflation on 1 April, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2026\/feb\/06\/bbc-licence-fee-to-rise-from-april\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">from \u00a3174.50 to \u00a3180 annually<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The corporation made \u00a33.8bn from the collection of the licence fee last year from 23.8 million households, plus a further \u00a32bn from commercial activities and grants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">However, licence fee paying households decreased by 300,000 year-on-year amid <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2025\/nov\/21\/bbc-losing-potential-licence-fee-revenue-say-mps\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">an increase in evasion<\/a> and a rise in audiences only watching rival digital platforms, such as Netflix and Disney.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">In February, Davie said the BBC was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2026\/feb\/12\/trumps-lawsuit-bbc-panorama-edit-florida-trial-in-2027\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cholding our own\u201d<\/a> despite the challenges posed by the rise of streaming services and the impact of YouTube.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Last year, Ofcom, the media regulator, warned that public service television \u2013 made by the BBC, ITV and Channels 4 and 5 \u2013 was becoming an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2025\/jul\/21\/uk-public-service-tv-youtube-ofcom-video\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cendangered species\u201d<\/a> in the streaming era.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The BBC is seeking to expand its iPlayer service, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2026\/jan\/21\/bbc-announces-landmark-deal-to-make-bespoke-content-for-youtube\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">announcing a content deal with YouTube<\/a> in January.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The BBC has previously said: \u201cOver the last three years we have delivered more than half a billion pounds\u2019 worth of savings, much of which we\u2019ve been able to reinvest into our output across the BBC.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cIn a rapidly changing media market, we continue to face substantial financial pressures. This is about the BBC becoming more productive and prioritising our offer to audiences to ensure we\u2019re providing the best value for money, both now and in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The BBC is to cut as many as 2,000 jobs in the biggest down-sizing of the public service&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-532319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532319","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=532319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}