As reported earlier, BBC staff across the North of England were bracing for cuts today as the corporation seeks to balance budgets in the face of a frozen licence fee and rising costs due to inflation and the cost-of-living crisis.
The BBC has now confirmed its latest plans, which include job cuts, including 139 across radio nationally, local radio station mergers and, on a more positive note, plans to create 11 regional investigative reporting teams and “boosting daily news provision for 43 local areas.”
Overall, the national broadcaster says job losses should amount to only around 48 as 131 new roles will be created as it prioritises its digital offering.
Prolific North also understands that staff have been told to expect further staff calls tomorrow and Wednesday as more details of the plans are revealed.
The BBC’s announcement in full can be found below:
The BBC has set out plans to reshape its local services across England to deliver greater online impact and more original journalism. The plans commit to boosting daily online news provision for 43 local areas and delivering a wider range of local audio programming through BBC Sounds.
The BBC will also create 11 investigative reporting teams across the country to provide more analysis of key local issues across TV, radio and online.
The proposals are part of the BBC’s strategy, announced earlier this year, to create a modern, digital-led organisation offering even greater value to all audiences.
To support the new plan, the BBC will create multi-media news operations across the country – bringing its local news teams together across radio, tv and online for the first time.
The BBC aims to maintain its overall investment in local services – but the changes will see around £19m reprioritised from broadcast services towards online and multi-media production to keep pace with changing audience expectations.
The plans will see the closure of the local television news programmes in Oxford and Cambridge, announced back in May, as well as greater programme sharing between neighbouring Local Radio stations in the afternoons and evenings when audiences are typically lower.
Overall, BBC local staffing in England is expected to reduce by around 48 posts – this amounts to a total reduction of 2%. There will be around 131 additional roles across local news services, with around 139 fewer roles in audio teams as greater programme sharing is introduced. This includes the 40 posts closing due to documentary series We are England coming to an end, which was announced in May.
Rhodri Talfan Davies, director of nations, says: “These are ambitious and far-reaching proposals to grow the value we deliver to local audiences everywhere. The plans will help us connect with more people in more communities right across England – striking a better balance between our broadcast and online services – and ensuring we remain a cornerstone of local life for generations to come.”
Investigative journalism
The BBC plans to increase its investment in local current affairs by about 40% by establishing 11 investigative reporting teams across England. This will see the creation of 71 new journalism roles. The teams will deliver original stories across tv, radio and online services – as well as producing over 20 TV documentary programmes each year.
Local online news
Online news services will be boosted in every local base to deliver an up-to-date trusted offer across the week. Local stories will also be easier to find under changes planned for the BBC’s online services. The BBC will also launch new dedicated local online services for Bradford, Wolverhampton, Sunderland and Peterborough.
BBC Sounds
As part of its digital push, the BBC will create a new fund to commission original local programmes and podcasts. It will also establish BBC Sounds producer roles at all its local bases to develop new audio programmes and formats for the online world.
Proposed changes to BBC Local Radio
The BBC has also announced plans to introduce greater programme sharing on Local Radio at times of the day when listening is typically lower.
Under the plans all 39 BBC Local Radio stations will continue with their own dedicated local programming from 6am to 2pm on weekdays. Since 2020 all local stations have broadcast three daytime programmes on weekdays (6am to 6pm), this will now reduce to two on many of our smaller stations.
Across the week, all live sports programming will be maintained across all local stations.
Local news bulletin services will be protected across the day on all local stations.
After 2pm on weekdays, the BBC will produce 18 afternoon programmes across England – with a number of local stations sharing programming. Additional investment will support the production of these new programmes.
There will be ten local programmes across England between 6-10pm on weekdays; across the day on Saturday; and on Sunday mornings. These programmes will serve areas that broadly mirror our existing local television areas. This is in addition to any live sports programming which will continue to be broadcast locally.
A national ‘all-England’ programme will be launched after 10pm across the week and on Sunday afternoons and evenings. Again, this will be in addition to any live sports programming which will continue to be broadcast locally.
