THE BBC LAID BARE. Author:Leighman Slojik

The BBC along with its overpaid staff is sinking fast, a massive pension black hole, tax avoidance issues, lack of skilled management, no wonder Lord Hall decided to sit on the millions he already made and jump ship.

The BBC is a vastly inflated enterprise with a legally enforcible income of more than four billion pounds per year, much of this huge pot of money becomes doled out to particular individuals in a way that many TV license holders including myself would classify as being unjustified enrichment.

To give an idea of the scale of the BBC, they have nine TV channels, Fifty-nine radio stations, and numerous websites, in 2019 they had a total of 22,401 staff across the organization. That is 22,400 people to uphold an organization that in 2018/19 although blessed with an annual income of £4,889 billion they still managed to make a deficit of £69 million, but when taking their massive pension deficit into account they are fundamentally losing hundreds of millions of pounds of license fee income each year. The subscription company Netflix on the other hand employs 8,600 people, their revenue for 2018/19 was US $20 billion, with a profit of $3.5 billion, what’s more, Netflix income doubled during the last 12 months while BBC viewing figures and License Fee income is shrinking.

Now they’ve found themselves operating in a fully competitive climate, it appears the days of The British Broadcasting Corporation and their legally enforced license fee are numbered, and like many other UK TV owners, I won’t be sad to see the back of them.

Numerous present and future media changes are causing an increasing threat to the BBC, as well playing catch up with on-demand viewing they have lost the ability to keep in touch with many areas of public taste, for example, their attempts to connect with a younger audience have produced programs that are condescendingly crass and similarly pathetic are their inept endeavours to win the Eurovision song contest. So far as the choice of TV platforms are concerned, as well as Netflix, Sky, and Amazon there are numerous other pay for view or subscription TV services on offer, all of which offer a vast choice of popular programs for a reasonable fee, not forgetting billions of other forms of entertainment can be accessed mostly for free via the Internet. YouTube for example has 500 hours of video uploaded every minute worldwide, that’s 30,000 hours of video uploaded every hour = 720,000 hours of video uploaded every day whilst the BBC is adding not much more than 1000 hours of original content per year. Also, there’s direct Broadcast Satellite TV, not forgetting thousands of other streaming services. So far as the provision of Educational Services is concerned, no single broadcast company can ever compete with the billions of educational resources to be found on the Internet.

Since the arrival of streaming TV and Internet, BBC is inevitably the last place I look to find anything of interest, I may occasionally seek out something engaging but not being keen on soaps, property, antiques, or cooking to find something that inspires me I inevitably end up watching TV elsewhere, what is more, since learning that BBC auto-cue newsreaders are paid £190,000 per year for working a four hour day, three day week makes it difficult for me to even bear watching them. It appears the value of BBC staff is determined by those way up the chain of command who have a vested interest in setting an organizational wage benchmark at an obscenely high level, this makes it especially infuriating when considering the £25,000 average yearly income of most UK television viewers, not forgetting that many License fee payers including myself have incomes far lower than that. BBC presenters gain their fame purely from being granted air-time exposure, the current trend of Reality TV doubtlessly proves that mass media value or stardom is not created by talent but rather comes along automatically for those having constant media exposure.

The current UK Television license position whereby viewers are criminalized for refusing to hand a large chunk of money to a broadcasting oligarchy they don’t even like is totally undemocratic, in a fast-moving digital world, the notion of a national television broadcaster being under the control of a Royal Charter overseen by a Lord along with a round table of noblemen and women acting as back up is a social construct from a bygone age that would sound humorous if it wasn’t so sad.

I have no objection to paying an annual tax for using broadcasting equipment as is the case in many other developed countries, but seeing my money and that of my friends being handed to an out of touch ideological group of overlords is not something I’m prepared to contemplate.

For the benefit of fellow disgruntled UK License Fee payers, the following information (as written in italics)is all extracted from official sources*, I have emphasized some of the ways the BBC mismanages its affairs with the most alarming facts highlighted and commented upon. Particularly unsettling are matters concerning the BBC pension scheme whose deficit is fast approaching or may have even passed the total receipts from the annual License Fee. Even more disturbing is the fact that for many years the BBC assisted many of its so-called star performers to avoid paying millions of pounds in income tax. To add insult to injury, because the HMRC are demanding millions of pounds in unpaid tax, BBC Board fat cats have decided responsibility for the outstanding tax payment will fall entirely on the pockets of license fee payers rather than the tax-dodging performers or their BBC paymasters.

* Four principle sources were used to form the basis of this report.

1./ BBC Group Annual Report and Accounts 2018/19, Official (292 pages) publication issued by BBC Group

2./ British Broadcasting Corporation. Departmental Overview 2019. (16 pages) publication issued by The National Audit Office

3./ Royal Charter for the continuance of the British Broadcasting Corporation signed 08 December 2018.

4./ The Agreement presented to Parliament by The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport by Command of Her Majesty, December 2016, in continuation of The Agreement made on 30 June 2006 Between The Secretary of State and The British Broadcasting Corporation entitled ‘Royal Charter For The Continuance Of The British Broadcasting Corporation. ‘This is a legal agreement drawn up by the government of the day in 2006, acknowledged as being a Royal Charter by HM The Queen, then subsequently upheld by the government in December 2016.

Comment: In Layman terms, it's an agreement prepared by The Government, then undemocratically upheld by The Government without referring to the citizens of UK (41 pages)

Two bodies have the right to police the affairs of The BBC, OFCOM & THE NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE. Both these bodies are fundamentally State-controlled. OFCOM is a statutory corporation, although supposedly independent of Government it is linked to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Secretary of State is required to lay Ofcom's annual report before Parliament.

The National Audit Office (NAO) is an independent Parliamentary body in the United Kingdom which is responsible for auditing central government departments, government agencies and non-departmental public bodies. In Layman's terms this office, similar to the BBC is policed by organs of The State, the citizens of the UK have zero input as to how or when these offices act or not act.

HM THE Queen or British Monarchy is known as a constitutional monarchy. This means that, while The Sovereign is Head of State, the ability to make and pass legislation always resides with an elected Parliament. In layman Terms, when it comes to the agreements referred to above, although The Queen gave them a Royal approval, the legislation within them is a Parliamentary Act.

So far as this Layman is concerned, The Royal Charter for the continuance of the British Broadcasting Corporation means the BBC is undoubtedly a State-controlled* organization (*Comment. This control appears to be limited to bureaucratic and political issues, the financial affairs of BBC are controlled entirely by an unconstrained quango of fat cats.)

BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION. To the Layman the term Corporation refers to a company as registered under the Companies Act whereby there are shareholders, directors, financial rules, regulations and liabilities. In the case of the BBC the term Corporation is historical and purely symbolic, there’s no shareholders and no Director liabilities, corporations of this type (invented around the 15^th century) are only answerable to the authority of parliament or The Crown, but according to the present constitution, all the powers of the crown are practically exercised by parliament thereby closing the circle of government control. Most interesting of all is that within the terms of The Charter, The British 'Television License Fee Payer' has no rights whatsoever, zero, nada, zilch, and therein lies the problem.

BACK TO THE BBC Group Annual Report and Accounts 2018/19.

The 292-page report published by the BBC is akin to a party political manifesto, it contains scores of pages of political correctness gone wild, lots of carefully crafted statistics and numerous meandering performance comparisons, there are lots of pages of layman indecipherable financial accounts that in my view are deliberately formatted in a way to disguise the true state of affairs.

To give credit where it's due, The National Audit Office published an abbreviated, legible version of the BBC annual report, it contains easy to understand pie charts and unlike the BBC half-million pound version is written in a format the average license fee payer can understand. However, to those not familiar with economic or business affairs many of the most controversial issues are carefully airbrushed over, in my opinion, the average License Fee Payer should be made aware of some of the most troublesome issues that have been highlighted and commented upon as follows -

BBC PENSION SCHEME

Incredible fact, the total number of BBC pension scheme beneficiaries as of 31 March 2019 was 48,478, I’ll repeat that number, whether we like it or not, every year License Fee payers fork out massive monthly pension amounts to forty-eight and a half thousand ex BBC employees. The 2016 actuarial valuation by Willis Towers Watson of the pension scheme showed a funding shortfall of £1,769 billion (£1,769,000,000 meaning that at that date almost half the annual license fee income was owed to the BBC Pension fund)(Three years later, 2019 debt had reached £3,334,000,000)

LATEST INFO ON DEFICIT - Deficit in scheme at the start of 2019.510)+(8)+(518)+1,141)+(8)+(1,149) = £3,334 billion pounds, yes £3,334,000,000 is the latest debt and it’s still growing

Consequently, a recovery plan was agreed between the BBC and the pension scheme Trustees which details the contribution amounts to be paid by the BBC over an 11-year period starting in 2017. Future contributions are to be paid to the pension scheme on or before the due dates shown below.

Due date , Amount £m

31 March 2020 £145million

31 March 2021 £195million

31 March 2022 £180million

31 March 2023 £185million

31 March 2024 £195million

31 March 2025 £195million

31 March 2026 £195million

31 March 2027 £195million

31 March 2028 £195million

31 December 2028 £195million

Total = £1,875,000,000 (by 2019 the debt has doubled to £3,334,000,000, meaning the payment calendar might have to be stretched to 20 years!

Comment: The above resembles a payment calendar set up on the back of a fag packet, similar to that used by that sympathetic Del bloke on ‘Can’t Pay we’ll Take it Away’, When resorting to a payment calendar on these programs, it is usually a last resort tactic when some poor soul owes £20 grand, has no job, no assets or hope. Del or his mate come up with the payment calendar just to get out of the place in the hope when payments dry up after a few tranches somebody else has to deal with it.

Due to fast-moving changes in the way the British public are obtaining their media fix the current BBC media broadcasting setup is on the verge of becoming obsolete, if knowing this full well who in their right mind would sign off a liability to pay a few billion or so quid beyond 5-6 years from now! I hope he or she gave personal guarantees but we all know whoever it was will never bear any personal liability for acting with such financial recklessness. Now consider this, The National Audit version of the BBC annual report, under the heading ‘ABOUT THE BBC’ is a sub-heading – The Commercial activities

Alongside the BBC Public Service, the Royal Charter permits the BBC to undertake commercial activities, provided they fit the BBC's mission and public purposes; are not funded through licence fee income, and are undertaken to generate profit

This section then broadens the information with the use of a graphic headed ‘BBC Commercial Holdings Ltd’ and below this heading are named various other subsidiaries within the commercial Infrastructure. Within this BBC umbrella are BBC Studios Distribution & BBC Studios Production

From Companies House: BBC Studios Distribution Ltd, 03 Jul 2019 Full accounts made up to 31 March 2019 RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES: Strategic Impacts -‘Harm to our reputation, our relationship with audiences and to the credibility of the BBC brand’

From Companies House: BBC Studios Production Ltd,03 Jul 2019 Full accounts made up to 31 March 2019 RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES: Strategic Impacts ‘Harm to our reputation, our relationship with audiences and to the credibility of the BBC brand’

The Financial Reporting Council in the UK is responsible for regulating auditors, accountants, and actuaries, and setting the UK's Corporate Governance and Stewardship Codes, their guidance asks boards to determine their "principal" risks. Both BBC Studios Distribution & BBC Studios Production have acknowledged ‘the credibility of the BBC brand’ is a principle risk to each of their companies to the extent they have been obliged to report this risk to their auditor. Both companies are subsidiaries of The British Broadcasting Company and yet they are stating unequivocally that the credibility of their Parent Company is the biggest risk to their future. Had the BBC Governor-General read the accounts of these BBC subsidiary Companies when signing off a payment program to pay billions of pounds of pension deficit over eleven years? if he did I believe he has some serious questions to answer to.

TAX DODGING: politely described by The National Audit Office as the BBC’s engagement with personal service companies(PSCs)

The BBC employs financial, legal so-called business specialist’s at a cost of tens of millions of pounds per year. Just a few of the relevant staff are listed as follows (the list only refers to BBC exec staff earning more than £150,000, there are plenty more on £100,000 +.

£454,999 Tony Hall Director-General...£319,999 Glyn Isherwood Chief Financial Officer ...Bob Shennan Group Managing Director £274,999

Sarah Jones Group Legal Counsel £229,999...£329,999 Bal Samra Group Commercial Director ...£214,999 Shirley Cameron Group Financial Controller ...Peter Ranyard Director, Corporate Legal £179,999

Claudia Giles Legal Director £174,999...Phil Harrold Company Secretary £169,999...Alexis Hawkes Legal Director £159,999...Pipa Doubtfire Director, Revenue Management £154,999 ...Andrew Kaczor Finance and Operations Director £159,999...Ian Haythornthwaite Chief Financial and Operating Officer £184,999...+ The Total Board £2,291,000

+ The Total Executive Committee £4,953,000

Basically what the above experts didn’t see or act upon is explained as follows-

In the construction industry when contractors regularly used the same brickies, chippies, etc on a full-time basis, because the contractor didn’t want the responsibility of deducting and paying their taxes, numerous tradespeople turned to use a PSC as a means of proving freelance status, this meant tax owed to HMRC became their own responsibility. PSCs can be a tax-efficient way for individuals to work because when invoicing your client you can take some or all of your earnings from the PSC as dividends which are subject to a lower rate of corporation tax rather than a salary which is subject to a higher level of income tax. This also means you do not pay employer or employee national insurance contributions on a large part of income.

PSC’s can also save tax by splitting ownership of the company with family members or employing them in order to place income in lower tax bands.

With the passing of time the HMRC tightened up the scrutiny of PSC employed sub-contractors whereby main contractors were often penalized for not policing the tax status of their tradespeople properly. The construction industry saw it as a ‘fair cop’ and quietly went about conforming with the latest HMRC requirements.

THE BBC however, though having a wealth of in house financial and legal professionals, allowed numerous people who regularly perform on BBC channels to carry on receiving their fees nett of any tax deduction, this resulted in numerous tax underpayments with a value to the exchequer of several million pounds.

When asked by HMRC to pay the correct amount of outstanding tax, one hundred and seventy on-screen luvvies threw hissing fits and said it wasn’t my idea guvnor it was them BBC what done it ! they alleged they only started operating through PSCs because the BBC told them to do so which they felt was misleading or limited information, and guess what, the BBC has taken steps to help the affected individuals. They gave bridging loans to three people totaling £2,550, made contributions towards additional book-keeping fees for 33 people, and agreed to pay outright most of the retrospective claims HMRC have against past and current presenters. The BBC accounting team that allowed it to happen in the first place have set aside a £12 million provision for this. What an outrageous way of skimming the License fee payer, how come the millions of pounds worth of so-called executive legal, business and financial wizards couldn’t recognize what was happening in the first place when for a fee of a few quid, back street accountancy companies have recognized and dealt with this issue in the building industry for years. These short-sighted BBC fools should be booted out for allowing this fiasco to happen, and pay back £12 million + to the license fee payer.

Renewing the EastEnders set

The BBC built the external filming set for EastEnders(including ‘Albert Square’) in 1984, and originally planned to use it for two years but It lasted for 34 years. Because it was considered no longer fit for purpose the BBC set about replacing the external filming set at their Elstree Studios. The original budget for the set in 2015 was £59.7 million but subsequently, following contract

negotiations and more realistic planning, the program team submitted a paper to the BBC Board in May 2018 to request an increased budget of £86.7 million

– £27 million (45%) more than what was approved in 2015; and an estimated delay of 31 months to complete the program.

Now listen to the official BBC excuse for this farce - The BBC had insufficient expertise in construction project management to identify critical issues. The program team and EastEnders production were not sufficiently integrated and the BBC faced other issues, such as higher than expected inflation in the construction sector and asbestos and obstructions in the ground.

COMMENT ON ABOVE: In the world of construction, a £60million project would hardly qualify as a major build, this would be especially the case when there's no land purchase or massive civil earthworks to fulfil. According to my personal experience for a scheme of this simplicity, it would be a relatively easy task to gain a fixed price contract supported by a fully costed schedule of work. The BBC excuse for going over the budget and timescale being - ‘The BBC had insufficient expertise in construction project management to identify critical issues’ Given this statement now consider the following titles and pay grades of various BBC personnel as published in the 2018/19 annual return in the over £150,000 category.

Glyn Isherwood Chief Financial Officer £319,999

Pipa Doubtfire Director, Revenue Management £154,999

Alan Bainbridge Director, Corporate Real Estate £154,999

Jessica Cecil Director Design and Engineering £214,999

Jatin Aythora Chief Architect £189,999

Andy Baker Director, Engineering Operations £184,999

Richard Dawkins Chief Financial and Operating Officer £204,999

Gautam Rangarajan Director, Strategy £174,999

Tim Cavanagh Director, Workplace £159,999

John Parrott Head of Architecture Marketing and Audiences £174,999

COMMENT: During the six years that have already expired on the EastEnders set build, this lot of experts above have been paid more than £10million, not forgetting monies paid to Board Members during the same period adds up to more than £30million, could it be the case that these baseless salaries are the reason why the cost of the EastEnders set build tipped into the red.

ASSET SEPARATION. In April 2017, BBC Studios Ltd (now renamed BBC Studios Productions Ltd)& BBC Studios Distribution Ltd)were launched as commercial subsidiaries of the BBC. Their brands appear to be those most commercially popular, hence they are distributed to over 200 countries. This includes the world-renowned entertainment format Dancing with the Stars (international version of the UK’s Strictly Come Dancing) Also included is Top Gear, Dr Who, BBC Earth, Blue Planet II and Planet Earth II.

COMMENT: I fail to see why, The BBC one of the oldest and largest media organizations on the planet wasn't able to fulfill these functions 'in house' especially when considering the numbers of expert staff they employ that includes millions of pounds worth of executives and directors.

Scrutiny of the records on BBC Studios & BBC Studios Distribution filed at Companies House reveal I’m not the only person concerned about the future prospects of The BBC. See Above 2019 tax returns, each of these companies under the title ‘STRATEGIC REPORT’ then beneath sub-heading ‘RISK’ is stated ‘HARM TO OUR REPUTATION WITH AUDIENCES AND TO THE CREDIBILITY OF THE BBC BRAND’

BOARD MATTERS.

The table below provides full details of the remuneration received by various BBC Board members for 2018/19.

Non-executive directors

David Clementi**Total £113,000(Attended 21 board meetings*)= £5,380 per ½ day

Simon Burke Total £ 38,000 ” 20 ” = £1900 per ½ day

Tanni Grey-Thompson £ 33,000 ” 20 ” = £1650 per ½ day

Ian Hargreaves £ 38,000 22 ” = £1720 per ½ day

Tom Ilube £ 38,000 23 ” = £1650 per ½ day

Steve Morrison £ 40,000 28 ” = £1420 per ½ day

Nicholas Serota £ 36,000 26 ” = £1384 per ½ day

Ashley Steel £ 38,000 25 ” = £1520 per ½ day

Elan Closs £ 38,000 19 ” = £2000 per ½ day

Executive directors

Tony Hall** Total £ 475,000 (Attended 19 board mt’s) = £25,000 per ½ day

Anne Bulford £ 435,000 (Attended 12 ” ” = £36,250 per ½ day

Tim Davie***** £ 642,000 (Attended 11 ” ” = £58,300 per ½ day

Ken MacQuarrie £ 327,000 (Attended 20 ” ” = £16,350 per ½ day

Total executive directors £1,858,000. Total Board £2,291,000

Approximate time spent in corporate board meetings is typically 1.5 - 3.00 hours (say ½ day).

Taxable benefits: car allowance, private medical insurance (including in some cases for whole families), and other taxable expenses.

The Chairman and Director-General are entitled to a car and driver but have no entitlement to a personal car allowance or fuel allowance (poor thing).

During 2017/18 and 2018/19 *** Steve Morrison chaired both the Remuneration and Scottish Nations Committees during the year, receiving additional Chair fees in respect of both these positions

During 2017/18 and 2018/19 *** Steve Morrison chaired both the Remuneration and Scottish Nations Committees during the year, receiving additional Chair fees in respect of both these positions.

Tim Davie's role as CEO, BBC Studios is funded entirely by the BBC's commercial revenues and not paid for, or subsidized by the licence fee (See Above???).

TO CONTINUE - BBC Executive Committee Members Remuneration

Charlotte Moore Total £404,000

Clare Summer Total £187,000

David Jordan*** Total £179,000

Francesca Unsworth Total £342,000

Gautam Rangarajan*** Total £173,000

Glyn Isherwood*** Total £318,000

James Purnell Total £318,000

John Shield*** Total £219,000

Kerris Bright*** Total £283,000

Matthew Postgate Total £341,000

Valerie Hughes-D’Aeth Total £310,000

+ Remuneration relating to former Executive Committee members**** Total £837,000

Total Executive Committee 2018/19 £4,953,000

Q.E.D. Total expenditure on ‘suits’ = £7,244,000,000

BOARD Attendance,

The 292-page Annual Report so carefully crafted at enormous expense has placed the attendance figures by board members some 15 pages below the details of how much money the board pays themselves, I wonder why ?.

The report also includes numerous pages of propaganda concerning BBC pledges on the subjects ‘Diversity & Inclusion’ and ‘Acting in The Public Interest’ but among current BBC Board members, it’s obvious there is nobody from the general public or from a typical mid to low income background. No plumbers, nurses, bus drivers, etc, each Board Member comes from an elite or corporate background. With little or no Diversity among its decision-makers how can the BBC board be expected to understand how best to 'Act in the Public Interest'

BBC CHARTER (5)The members of the Board must be selected to ensure that, collectively, they have the range of skills and experience necessary to secure the proper exercise of the functions of the BBC.

* Tim Davie's role as CEO, BBC Studios is funded entirely by the BBC's commercial revenues and not paid for, or subsidized by the license fee Comment: Utter Nonsense. In addition to the £642,000 he paid himself for attending 11 board meetings at broadcasting house, he paid himself a further £770,000 in directors fees for being a director of BBC Studio.

** Employee pension contributions are ordinarily made via a salary sacrifice arrangement as an employer contribution, with a corresponding reduction in salary. Base salaries for executive directors have not been adjusted to reflect the impact of salary sacrifice ??? to enable like-for-like comparison with prior years before salary sacrifice was introduced. The pension-related single figure is generally calculated at 20 times the increase in the accrued pension over the year net of inflation, less the directors’ defined benefit

Comment: This statement is deliberately written in an obscure language known as ‘Billshut’. This vernacular is the mother tongue uniquely used by ‘Big Shot Corporate Number Crunchers’ what is fundamentally being obscured is that in addition to their vast salaries the BBC Board also pay themselves very generous pension monies even when knowing full well there’s nothing in the kitty to support these mega handouts.

**** Remuneration relates to Mark Linsey and James Harding, who stepped down from the Executive Committee during 2017/18 These two former Committee members who according to above ‘stepped down’ were nevertheless given £837,000 of license fee payers* money when most of the general public would be unable to get their hands on or even see this sort of money in a lifetime.

GOVERNANCE

BBC Group Annual Report 2018/19 Total remuneration – Board and Executive Committee. There has been an increase in the overall total annual remuneration for the Board and Executive Committee in 2018/19, predominantly as a result of the increase in membership of the Executive Committee in 2018/19 to 15 members (previously ten in 2017/18).Comment: Absolutely unjustifiable

GOVERNANCE/CONTINUED

BBC Group Annual Report and Accounts 2018/19.Severance

No severance was paid to executive directors during the year ended 31 March 2019. Hello! other than Mark Linsey and James Harding, who stepped down from the Executive Committee during 2017/18 and between themselves were handed £837,000.

Outside interests

With the prior agreement of the Director-General, executive members of the BBC Board may hold remunerated external directorships (being the reason why they attend so few BBC board meetings) The prime purpose of the external directorship should be to support personal and career development and thereby give back to the BBC (Did you ever hear such bilge).

Remuneration which arises from external directorships may be retained by the individual, but is subject to formal approval. Executive directors may also hold non-remunerated posts outside the BBC. No more than one to two days per month are permitted to fulfil all external duties. During the year, one executive director held another remunerated external directorship, where fees were waived.

GENDER PAY GAP

There has been a well-publicized inquiry concerning the gender pay gap between male and a female BBC autocue readers. In February 2020 it was judged the BBC had failed to prove the pay gap between female Samira Ahmed and male presenter Jeremy Vine was not because of sex discrimination. Evidently, Vine got £3,000 per episode for reading the autocue on BBC's Points of View while Ahmed was paid £440 for reading an autocue on Newswatch, Ahmed had claimed she was therefore underpaid by £700,000. The adjudicator ruled in Ahmed's favour after which the BBBC reached a settlement with her that was undoubtedly to raise her payment on a par with that of Vine.(Further Comment: Neither the adjudicator nor the BBC Board took the license fee payers well being into account over this affair, it seems obvious that when it became legally determined that two BBC employees have equal capabilities while having similar responsibilities and it turns out one is being paid four times that of the other,it’s the duty of the BBC board to adjust the payroll level to that most beneficial to the license fee payer (downward).

I also suggest this should also be the case for every autocue reader employed by the BBC. The BBC now faces having to pay out tens or possibly hundreds of millions of pounds to even up the imbalance in a move that is likely to send its £194million-a-year so-called talent bill soaring. Lawyers warned the Corporation could be deluged with legal claims over the apparent discrimination

Detailed on-air talent pay tables. News and Current Affairs

Today Nick RobinComment on above: I refer to the working unit of a presenter as a half-day because without doubt, the fame these lucky folk have gained at the expense of the licence fee payer enables each of them during residual time to boost income through external 'work unknown’ such as journalism, books, voice-overs, after dinner speaking ,etc.See Naga Munchetty 10 August 2020,hauled before BBC bosses and 'reminded' about 'conflicts of interest' after sparking fresh impartiality row by moonlighting on a corporate video for Aston Martin on top of her '£195,000' presenting role. The BBC Breakfast presenter hosted a webinar for the luxury carmaker without gaining approval from her employer or declaring her fee* for the promo.(* Most likely more than the cost of a working-class starter home) On 10 AUGUST 2020 it was reported that BBC presenter Konnie Huq, 44, has revealed how she 'kicked off' when learning Blue Peter co-hosts Matt Baker and Simon Thomas were being paid more than her on the BBC program and is insisting the BBC update her salary and backdate it. Comment: Yeh, all us viewers are in full support of gender equality and don’t care if the License fee costs £1000 per year provided you’re not hard done by.

John Humphrys c.140 programs, call it 140 half days £259,999

Mishal Husain c.100 programs, c.40 days for BBC News bulletins,12 episodes of From Our Home Correspondent Call it 152 half days £259,999

Martha Kearney c.140 programs Call it 140 half days £249,999

Justin Webb c.150 programs Call it 150 half days £249,999

World at One Sarah Montague c.140 programs, c.10 episodes of HARDtalk

Call it 150 half days £244,999

Evan Davis c.70 programs c.60 days for Newsnight, The Bottom Line on Radio 4

Call it 150 half days £279,999

Eddie Mair c.70 programs Call it 70 half days £159,999

ANNUAL REPORT PRESENTATION. In the BBC Board Annual Remuneration Report, the author has stooped to the old 'Woolworth' 19/11d penny markdown trick. To explain, all the salaries on the BBC Remuneration report are rounded down by one pound so instead of £250,000 it is written as £249,999 in every single case. It is also noticeable that each employee mentioned in the report was given a pay rise of £5000 over the previous year. Identical increment, trade union negotiated?

BBC Group Annual Accounts 2018/19.BBC News at Six and BBC News at Ten

Huw Edwards c.180 presentation days for BBC One & News Channel

Elections and News Specials £494,999

George Alagiah c.180 presentation days for BBC One £319,999

Sophie Raworth c.150 presentation days for BBC One £269,999

Question Time Fiona Bruce c.100 presentation days for BBC One, c.10 episodes of Question Time £259,999

The Andrew Marr Show Andrew Marr c.40 programs,c.20 editions of Start the Week, BBC Documentaries £394,999

Newsnight Emily Maitlis c.120 days for Newsnight £264,999

Victoria Derbyshire Victoria Derbyshire £219,999

BBC News Channel Clive Myrie BBC News Channel, BBC One bulletins and location work £204,999

Reeta Chakrabarti BBC News Channel,,BBC One bulletins,location work £174,999

Ben Brown BBC News Channel, BBC One bulletins and location work £169,999

Jane Hill BBC News Channel, BBC One bulletins and location work £159,999

Joanna Gosling BBC News Channel and BBC One bulletins Cover for Victoria Derbyshire £154,999

BBC Radio News Tina Daheley Radio 2 Breakfast Show, Newsbeat and Beyond Today

BBC One bulletin and BBC Breakfast cover.c.40 episodes of The Cultural, Frontline,1 episode of Panorama, Cover for Woman's Hour £189,999

BBC Breakfast Louise Minchin 180 programs, Triathlon: World Series £209,999

Naga Munchetty c.180 programs £194,999

Charlie Stayt c.180 programs £194,999

On-air editors and correspondents

Laura Kuenssberg Political Editor £254,999

Jon Sopel North America Editor £244,999

Jeremy Bowen Middle East Editor £219,999

Amol Rajan Media Editor c.40 episodes of The Media Show; c.10 episodes

of Start the Week and cover on BBC Radio 2 BBC Television and Radio Documentaries £214,999

Katya Adler Europe Editor £209,999

Fergal Keane Africa Editor £199,999

Mark Easton Home Editor £184,999

James Naughtie Presenter and Correspondent £174,999

Simon Jack Business Editor £174,999

John Pienaar Deputy Political Editor and Pienaar’s Politics £164,999

Sarah Smith Scotland Editor and Sunday Politics £164,999

Orla Guerin International Correspondent £164,999

RADIO

BBC Radio 1 Nick Grimshaw 80 editions of Radio 1 Breakfast Show,110 editions of Radio 1 Drivetime Show, Biggest Weekend and festival coverage £314,999

Scott Mills 210 editions of The Scott Mills Show Radio 1 Breakfast Show cover

Biggest Weekend and festival coverage, Eurovision Song Contest £289,999

Greg James 120 editions of Radio 1 Breakfast Show 60 editions of Radio 1 Drivetime Show, Teen Awards Biggest Weekend and festival coverage £229,999

Annie Mac 220 editions of The Annie Mac Show Biggest Weekend and festival coverage £184,999

Clara Amfo 190 editions of Radio 1 Mid Morning Show £154,999

BBC Radio 2 Chris Evans 150 editions of Chris Evans Breakfast Show £1,254,999

Steve Wright 220 editions of Steve Wright in the Afternoon 50 editions of Sunday Love Songs £469,999 (Comment: Nobody I know has ever heard of this person or the programs he works on. I would really like to know the listener numbers that justify this obscene pay level)

Zoe Ball 30 editions of The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show 40 editions of Radio 2 Saturday Afternoon Show £374,999

Jeremy Vine Daily show on Radio 2 £294,999 (Comment: On top of £3000 per episode for reading the autocue on points of view)

Ken Bruce 220 editions of Radio 2 Mid Morning Show 10 editions of Friday Night is Music Night, Eurovision Song Contest £284,999

Jo Whiley 150 editions of Radio 2 Drivetime Show 50 editions of Radio 2 Evening Show £274,999

Simon Mayo 150 editions of Radio 2 Drivetime Show 40 editions of Kermode and Mayo on 5 live £249,999

Sara Cox 100 editions of Radio 2 Late Night Show 50 editions of Radio 2 Teatime Show, Radio 2 Breakfast cover, 10 times Sounds of the 80s £239,999

Trevor Nelson 80 editions Rhythm Nation 80 Weekend Shows on 1Xtra £169,999

Radio 5 live Nicky Campbell 200 editions of 5 live Breakfast Show,200 editions of Your Call £345,999

Adrian Chiles c.40 editions of Chiles on Friday,40 editions of Question Time Extra Time,20 other shows on 5 live and Radio 4, 1 episode of Panorama Christine and Adrian’s Friendship Test £184,999

Nihal Arthanayake 190 editions of 5 live Early Afternoon Show 40 editions of The Big Debate on Asian Network Radio 6 Music cover £179,999

Rachel Burden 230 editions of 5 live Breakfast Show, Cover for BBC Breakfast & Your Call £174,999

Dotun Adebayo 160 editions of Up All Night,190 editions of the Late Night Show on Radio London 50 editions of Dotun on Sunday on Radio London £154,999

BBC 6 Music Lauren Laverne 140 editions of 6 Music Mid Morning Show 60 editions of 6 Music Breakfast Show,40 editions of Recommends,30 editions of Desert Island Discs on Radio 4 £309,999

Shaun Keaveny 160 editions of 6 Music Breakfast Show 50 editions of 6 Music Afternoon Show £164,999

Multiple stations Vanessa Feltz 200 editions of Radio 2 Early Breakfast Show

220 editions of Radio London Breakfast Show Radio 2 cover £359,999

Stephen Nolan 210 editions of The Nolan Show on Radio Ulster 10 editions of Nolan Live on BBC 1 (NI) 120 editions of 5 live Late Night Shows £329,999

Mark Radcliffe 200 editions of Radcliffe and Maconie 50 editions of the Folk Show £159,999

Comment: The BBC are paying Radio presenters £7,474,000 per year, when boosted with numerous fringe benefits, this figure becomes close to ten million quid per year. I truly do not know of anybody who tunes in to any BBC radio channel other than when driving whereby BBC radio channels are pre-programmed into almost every car radio. Are these obscene figures truly justifiable?

SPORT

Gary Lineker Match of the Day Premier League and FA Cup Sports Personality of the Year FIFA World Cup £1,754,999

Comment: This appointment is a perfect example of how the BBC Board of Directors is completely out of touch with the general public. Match of the Day is a peak time program that for many TV viewers is the highlight of their weekly TV but it has no broadcasting competition !, The BBC no doubt paid a fortune for these sole rights so you either watch the highlights of the day’s matches on BBC or don’t watch them at all.

When it comes to the pundits why hire an egotistical prima-donna such as Lineker and pay him an annual salary equal to seventy years of pay for the average TV viewer, this is tantamount to an insult. That the BBC hasn't realized the amount of damage this appointment is doing to their chance of maintaining a broadcasting monopoly shows how completely out of touch the BBC are with the viewing public, the same thing applies to Orange Winklewoman.

Alan Shearer Match of the Day: Premier League & FA Cup FIFA World Cup £444,999

Jermaine Jenas Match of the Day: Premier League and FA Cup World Cup £214,999

Ian Wright Match of the Day: Premier League and FA Cup 5 live Sport £209,999

Cricket Jonathan Agnew International test, one-day and Twenty20 series BBC Cricket Correspondent £174,999

Tennis Sue Barker Wimbledon, Queen’s, ATP World Tour Finals Australian Open

Sports Personality of the Year £199,999

John McEnroe Wimbledon £194,999

Multiple sports Gabby Logan Athletics, Premier League Show, FIFA World Cup and other football, Rugby Autumn Internationals and Six Nations, Commonwealth Games

European Sports Championships, Sports Personality of the Year £294,999

Comment, If this person can cover multiple sports why can’t the others and why hasn’t her pay been rounded up to equal that of Garry Lineker, watch this space!

Mark Chapman Twice weekly editions of 5 live sport, Weekly Premier League highlights and MOTD 2 Extra, Rugby League, FIFA World Cup, NFL, £234,999

Comment, Ditto above

Clare Balding Commonwealth Games, Wimbledon, European Sports Championships

Equestrian, Sports Personality of the Year £179,999 Comment 10% of Garry Lineker again, the Gender Pay Gap argument is going down the swanee

BBC Group Annual Report and Accounts 2018/19 Multiple genres and Television

There are a small number of individuals who have pre-existing multi-year relationships with BBC commissioning. Payments from BBC Studios have been removed from the disclosure, and they may also receive payments from independent producers* We also include in this section presenters who spend close to 50% of their time in more than one of TV, Radio, News and Sport.

* Comment: It is license fee revenue that provided unheard of journalists sufficient airtime to turn them into valuable media celebrities, television airtime has a tremendous commercial value for which the license fee payer expects a return on investment, all extracurricular income if hailing from any source including advertising, publishing, entertainment, public speaking and so on should be contractually paid back into the License fee pot. If the BBC Board does not understand that revenue derived from BBC created business assets rightfully belongs to the license fee payers, it is a clear indication they are unable or unwilling to fulfill their job obligation 'to act in the best interest of The Public.

MULTIPLE GENRES AND TELEVISION

Mary Berry BBC TV fee for a range of programs and series £199,999

Comment: Mind-boggling, given the cost of an apartment just for turning up

Radio and Sports Jason Mohammad Daily Radio Wales program, Weekly 5 live programs, Final Score, FIFA World Cup ,and other football, Snooker, Commonwealth Games, Good Morning Sunday on Radio 2 . £359,999

News& Sport Dan Walker Football Focus & FIFA World Cup, BBC Breakfast £284,999

Radio and Television Graham Norton Weekly show and special features on Radio 2

BBC TV fee for a range of programs and series £614,999

Claudia Winkleman Weekly show on Radio 2 BBC TV fee for a range of programs and series £374,999

Comment: Neither I nor anyone I know can understand how a person whose only talent seems to be dying her skin orange and having hair permanently hanging in her eyes is worth even a tiny fraction of the immoral amount she is paid, nor can it be understood how on earth she got the gig in the first place.

Senior executives. The following list only refers to BBC exec’s earning more than £150,000.

£454,999 Tony Hall DIRECTOR GENERAL

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

£374,999 Charlotte Moore Director, Content

£344,999 Francesca Unsworth Director, News and Current Affairs

£329,999 Ken MacQuarrie Director, Nations and Regions

£319,999 Glyn Isherwood Chief Financial Officer

£314,999 Valerie Hughes-D’Aeth Chief HR Officer

Matthew Postgate Chief Technology and Product Officer £309,999

James Purnell Director, Radio and Education £284,999

Kerris Bright Chief Customer Officer £279,999

Bob Shennan Group Managing Director £274,999

Sarah Jones Group Legal Counsel £229,999

John Shield Director, Communications and Corporate Affairs £179,999

David Jordan Director, Editorial Policy and Standards £174,999

Clare Sumner Director, Policy £174,999

Gautam Rangarajan Director, Strategy £174,999

CORPORATE FUNCTIONS

£329,999 Bal Samra Group Commercial Director

£214,999 Shirley Cameron Group Financial Controller

£209,999 Dale Haddon HR Director

£209,999 Balram Veliath Director, Quality, Risk and Assurance

£204,999 Gillian Taylor Director, Reward

£199,999 Anna Gronmark HR Director, News and Current Affairs

GOVERNANCE

£194,999 Joe Godwin Director, Academy

Peter Ranyard Director, Corporate Legal £179,999

Noel Scotford Director, HR Systems and Business Analytics £174,999

Rachel Currie HR Director, Content, Radio and Education £174,999

Claudia Giles Legal Director £174,999

Chris Rowsell Head of Regulation £169,999

Phil Harrold Company Secretary £169,999

Wendy Aslett HR Director, Nations and Regions £164,999

Claire Paul Senior Head of Leadership and Development £164,999

Sarah Gregory Director, HR Operations £164,999

Catherine Hearn Director, Resourcing £159,999

Isabel Begg Head of Commercial Rights and Business Affairs £159,999

Tim Cavanagh Director, Workplace £159,999

Alexis Hawkes Legal Director £159,999

Pipa Doubtfire Director, Revenue Management £154,999

Alan Bainbridge Director, Corporate Real Estate £154,999

Jessica Cecil Director Design and Engineering £214,999

Matt Grest Director, Platform £204,999

Stuart Page Director, Product and Systems £204,999

Robin Pembrooke Director, Product and Systems £194,999

Chris Condron Director, Product and Systems £189,999

Kieran Clifton Director, Distribution and Business Development £189,999

Jatin Aythora Chief Architect £189,999

Andy Baker Director, Engineering Operations £184,999

Andy Conroy Controller, Research and Development £184,999

Gary Payne Chief Information Security Officer £184,999

£169,999 Sarah Hayes Director, BBC Archives

£164,999 Richard Cooper Controller, Digital Distribution

Andrew Kaczor Finance and Operations Director £159,999

Mike Ford Programme Director £159,999

Claire Hetherington Head of Product £154,999

John Parrott Head of Architecture Marketing and Audiences £174,999

Nick North Director, Audiences £249,999

Justin Bairamian Director, BBC Creative Nations and Regions £244,999

Ian Haythornthwaite Chief Financial and Operating Officer £184,999

Donalda MacKinnon Director, Scotland £179,999

Rhodri Talfan Davies Director, Wales £179,999

Peter Johnston Director, Northern Ireland £154,999

Chris Burns Senior Head of Local Radio Commissioning £154,999

Steve Carson Senior Head of Multi-Platform Commissioning £154,999

CONTENT

£249,999 Piers Wenger Controller, Drama Commissioning

£219,999 Dan McGolpin Controller, iPlayer and Programming

Alison Kirkham Controller, Factual Commissioning

Barbara Slater Director, Sport £219,999

Shane Allen Controller, Comedy Commissioning £219,999

Patrick Holland Controller, BBC Two and BBC Four £214,999

Kate Phillips Controller, Entertainment Commissioning £209,999

Rose Garnett Director, BBC Films £179,999

Lucy Richer Senior Commissioning Editor, Drama £174,999

Tom McDonald Head of Specialist Factual Commissioning £174,999

Cassian Harrison Channel Editor, BBC Four £174,999

Philip Bernie Head of TV Sport £169,999

Fiona Campbell Controller, BBC Three £164,999

David Brindley Head of Popular Factual Commissioning £159,999

Clare Sillery Head of Documentary Factual Commissioning £154,999

Jo Wallace Senior Commissioning Editor, Entertainment £154,999

NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS

£209,999 Kamal Ahmed Editorial Director

£199,999 Jamie Angus Director, World Service Group Private company?

Alan Dickson Chief Financial and Operating Officer £179,999

Jonathan Munro Head of Newsgathering £174,999

Mary Hockaday Controller, World Service English £174,999 Private company?

Gavin Allen Head of News Programmes £169,999

Sarah Ward-Lilley Managing Editor £159,999

Joanna Carr Head of Current Affairs £159,999

James Gray Deputy Head of Current Affairs £154,999

Jon Zilkha Senior Project Director £154,999

RADIO AND EDUCATION

Graham Ellis Controller, Radio Production £214,999

Alice Webb Director, Children’s £204,999

Ben Cooper Controller, Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network £199,999

Gwyneth Williams Controller, Radio 4 £189,999

Charlotte Lock Launch Director, Sounds £184,999

Cheryl Taylor Head of Content, Children’s £179,999

Alan Davey Controller, Radio Three £174,999 Comment: a couple of quid from each Radio Three listener

Helen Bullough Head of Children’s Production £169,999

Jonathan Wall Controller, 5 Live £164,999

Rhona Burns Finance and Operations Director £164,999

GOVERNANCE

Former Staff

£439,999 Anne Bulford Deputy Director-General

£204,999 Richard Dawkins Chief Financial and Operating Officer

Neelay Patel Director, Product and Systems £194,999

Damian Kavanagh Controller, BBC Three £174,999

Elizabeth Kilgarriff Senior Commissioning Editor (Drama)£164,999

Mark Friend Controller, Editorial Projects £154,999

Colin Burns Chief Design Officer £154,999

Adrian Van Klaveren Head of Strategic Change and Portfolio Management £154,999

Tunde Ogungbesan Head of Diversity and Inclusion £154,999

Comment: No explanation is given as to why the BBC paid a total of £1.8 million quid to former staff during the year 2018/9.

What is also difficult to understand is that each of these former staff was even given a £5000 pay rise during the same year they are described as no longer employed by BBC?

PAY DISCLOSURES. BBC Group Annual Report and Accounts 2018/19

PERFORMANCE AGAINST ITS COMMITMENTS

There are pages and pages under this heading much of which reads like a communist party manifesto, at the time of writing this report as a matter of interest I checked a forthcoming week of BBC 1, 2, & 4 TV offerings. The results are as follows -

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS BBC Group Annual Report and Accounts 2018/19

C. What the BBC spends on its people

The BBC employs a significant number of people. It also provides pension benefits to both current and past employees. This section is broken into two main parts; the first details employee numbers (excluding freelancers and agency staff), costs and transactions with members of the BBC Executive Committee and BBC Board who served during the year. The second presents the key information relating to the BBC Group’s pension plans.

The analysis provided in the pension notes is based on the IAS 19 Employee Benefits estimate of the scheme’s assets and liabilities as at 31 March 2019. The most recent actuarial valuation of the pension scheme completed by Willis Towers Watson showed a funding shortfall of £1,769 million at 1 April 2016 Comment: this shortfall had doubled by 2019

Pension costs , Main scheme £1,397 million comment: More than one-third of annual license fee)

Group pension plans

The following section includes the keynotes relating to BBC Group pension plans and, more specifically, the BBC Pension Scheme1. Further supplementary notes on the assumptions underpinning the value of the BBC Pension Scheme assets and liabilities are disclosed in note G2. As the BBC Group has two defined benefit pension schemes, the BBC Pension Scheme and the Unfunded Scheme, the information in this section analyses the liability and income statement charge between the two schemes (note C6). A separate analysis follows in respect of the BBC Pension Scheme to highlight the points outlined below (note C7).What the BBC spends on its people continued. C6 Group pension plans continued BBC Pension Scheme 2019 -

Deficit in scheme at the start of the year 2019(510)+(8)+(518)+ (1,141)+(8)+(1,149)= £3,334 billion pounds , yes £3,334,000,000

Movement in the year:

Current service cost1 (206) – (206) (227) – (227)

Contributions (from employer) 191 – 191 155 – 155

Past service costs1* (18) – (18) – – –

Administration costs incurred (7) – (7) (9) – (9)

Net finance cost1 (10) – (10) (25) – (25)

Remeasurement1 gains 38 – 38 737 – 737

Deficit in scheme at the end of the year (522) (8) (530) (510) (8) (518)= £2,096 Billion, yes £2,096,000,000

SUMMARY. I would remind the reader that the salaries contained within this report are just those in the over £150,000 per year range, there are hundreds of additional BBC staff employed in the £75,000+ per year category. As to the Money that Board Members pay themselves and also the pay scales of the hundred-plus so called 'Directors', from reading the BBC 2018/19 Annual report I'm unable to understand exactly what it is they're being paid for. It’s obvious from the facts within the report they are unable to maintain proper fiscal control, by handing commercial responsibilities over to BBC Studios & associated companies is an admission they have little or no business acumen, though having scores of so-called technical staff at director level they failed hopelessly in trying to manage a relatively small building contract, in fact other than enriching themselves at the expense of the license fee payer I fail to see anything the BBC Board are demonstrably good at. Their worst failure of all, they are unable to recognize why the British public are ditching BBC and gobbling up the media output of numerous new media broadcasters, perhaps the clue lies among the scores of pages of idealogical waffle that make up the majority of the BBC 292 page 2018/19 Annual report.

Leighman Slojik August 2020.