The BBC’s expenses junket has to stop, executives told staff yesterday, as they proposed banning taxi journeys in central London, bottles of wine and lunch on the public service broadcaster.
With budgets under scrutiny before the charter renewal next year, BBC staff were warned yesterday of massive cutbacks to expenses as part of the corporation’s efforts to shave £50 million from its running costs. It faces a £150 million shortfall by the end of next year as a result of lower than expected income from the licence fee.
Under the plans, executive directors and regular staff alike are required to use public transport wherever possible, ditch first-class train tickets and pay for their own lunch when out on a job.
BBC staffers were also told that “subsistence alcohol” could no longer be claimed for, and they would have to pay out of their own pocket if they travelled more than 25 miles in a cab.
The new regime is particularly punitive for executive directors, many of whom have racked up huge expenses bills in recent years.
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The Times revealed in August that Alan Yentob, the BBC’s creative director, had clocked up expenses of £84,930.39 between April 2009 and 2014.
Mark Linsey, who is paid £230,000 a year for his role as controller of entertainment commissioning, hit the headlines in May when it emerged that he had spent nearly £800 of licence fee payers’ cash on seven taxi journeys.
Anne Bulford, the corporation’s managing director, told staff in an email that the rule changes would apply to all staff. “We told you about a £150 million budget shortfall,” she said in the memo. “We also told you we would start work over the summer to address £50 million of this from areas that should not affect our content or services for audiences.”
BBC insiders said that the new rules — which will be subject to consultation — had been drawn up after an examination of policies at other large public sector bodies.
“With the financial challenges the BBC is facing, it’s more important than ever to get maximum value from every penny of the licence fee,” a BBC spokesman said. “These proposals will help create a simpler, more efficient, BBC while ensuring staff are not out of pocket for the essential costs incurred in doing their jobs.”
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However, one BBC staffer said yesterday that frontline staff “who get on every day doing the job” were being punished because of the extortionate expenses claims of certain executives: “Our lives are going to get much harder because of them.”
Under the proposals, staff would no longer be able to take taxi journeys in central London and, when working away from the office, would not be allowed to claim for lunch or alcohol.
Business class flights will only be allowed if staff are flying overnight for more than eight hours and need to work when they land.
Big spenders
£11.6m The corporation’s total accommodation costs in 2013, a 31 per cent year-on-year increase
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£800 Spent by Mark Linsey, the controller of entertainment commissioning, on seven taxis
£285.31 Spent on two taxis by Peter Salmon, the former BBC England director
£1,600 Charged by Alan Yentob, the creative director, for an “executive Christmas dinner”
£3,381 Claimed by Mr Yentob for a business-class flight to New York in 2010