The BBC is preparing to pump £750m into its pension fund in the next decade to plug an estimated £1 billion deficit.
On an annual basis, the corporation will increase its contributions by more than the combined budgets of Radio 1 and 2, potentially sparking another row about how the taxpayer-funded organisation spends its money.
Tackling the BBC’s pension problem has already proved controversial. Plans to cap the increase in pensionable pay to 1% a year sparked walkouts by journalists and presenters in November. The BBC put its deficit at £1.5 billion in last year’s annual report, but the figure is expected to be far lower when the impact from cutting payouts is factored in.
The BBC and its pension trustees will shortly agree on a funding programme that must then be approved by the pensions regulator. An additional annual payment of £75m a year was calculated for The Sunday Times by Lane Clark & Peacock, the actuary. Those contributions would come on top of the £219m that the BBC paid into the scheme last year — the equivalent of television licence fees collected from 1.5m homes.
The plan threatens a further squeeze on programming. In October, the BBC agreed a six-year freeze to the licence fee, which brings in £3.5 billion a year. At the time, Mark Thompson, the director-general, took on responsibility for funding £340m of extra activities, including the World Service and Welsh language channel S4C.
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The BBC’s pension scheme has 60,000 members but only 18,000 that are still making payments.