More than 50 jobs cut at BBC Scotland under spending squeeze

Glasgow Times

15 hours ago

Dozens of editorial and production roles at BBC Scotland have gone as part of a drive to make £700m worth of savings a year across the UK.
It is thought almost 4% of BBC Scotland's staff have left in the wake of the seven-month redundancy programme.
The cuts have emerged following controversies over the BBC's plans to drop long-running soap opera River City and the cancellation of The Nine, the flagship news programme created for the BBC Scotland channel.
Our sister title, The Herald, revealed last week that BBC Scotland was scaling back its coverage of Edinburgh's festivals, including dropping its annual pop-up venue, which played host to many of the biggest stars performing in the city in August.
BBC Scotland is based at Pacific Quay in Glasgow. (Image: Getty) Long-time presenter Shereen Nanjiani announced at the weekend that she was stepping down from her Saturday morning show after almost 17 years at the BBC.
The BBC promised that 80 new jobs would be created when the new £32 million channel, which launched in February 2019, was first announced more than eight years ago.
River City is expected to be screened for the last time in the autumn of 2026. (Image: Image: Archive)
However the BBC has been forced to roll-out significant cuts across the UK since then, amid calls for a reform of the licence fee system.
The BBC has said that below inflation rises or licence fee freezes have seen it lose out on more than £1 billion over the last decade.
BBC Scotland had 1276 staff according to its most recent annual report, which was published before the start of the recent redundancy programme.
Director-general Tim Davie announced in March 2024 that the BBC was having to increase its annual savings target by £200m to £700m a year by 2028, as he revealed that the broadcaster planned to explore ways to reform the licence fee, which is set by the UK Government, but had been frozen for the previous two years.
At the time, Mr Davie highlighted how below inflationary settlements had 'chipped away' at the BBC's income for years, resulting in a 30 per cent cut between 2010 and 2020.
Within months, the BBC had announced plans to cut 500 jobs across its UK services by March 2026 as part of plans to become a 'leaner, more agile organisation".
The BBC told staff last September that it planned to cut around 115 editorial and production jobs in its 'nations and regions' teams in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The BBC said they were aiming to make savings 'without closing any major services' while focusing on 'areas that deliver maximum value for audiences".
The broadcaster said: 'We have been clear that the significant funding pressures we face means that every division in the BBC needs to make savings.'
Between 20 and 30 jobs had expected to go in Scotland under the redundancy programme, which was announced months after the BBC announced plans to drop The Nine, the hour-long news programme created for the launch of the BBC Scotland channel in 2019, and replace it with a new half-hour show running after the main Reporting Scotland programme.
A shake-up in BBC Scotland's arts coverage has seen singer and broadcaster Michelle McManus fronting a new celebrity-focus two-hour radio programme, with poet Len Pennie presenting a half-show Scottish culture show, The Arts Mix.
BBC Scotland's redundancy programme ran until March, when it sparked anger from actors, union leaders and politicians when they announced plans to bring River City to an end. The final instalments are due to be screened in the autumn of 2026 – around 24 years after its launch.
The BBC, which spends around £300m in Scotland, around 90% of what is generated by the licence fee north of the border, has promised that River City's £9m annual budget will be reinvested in three new drama series which will be set in and around Glasgow.
The BBC has pledged that it will be spending £95m in drama in Scotland between 2026 and 2028.
Although more than 12,000 supporters have backed a petition calling for River City to be saved, BBC Scotland director Hayley Valentine last month told the Scottish Parliament that the show no longer provided 'value for money' after its audience 'declined significantly' over the last five years.
The Herald revealed last week that BBC Scotland had decided to scale back its coverage of Edinburgh's festivals.
It will not be running a pop-up venue for ticketed broadcasts and recordings for the first time 2010. Just five days of events with audiences will be staged under plans to share space with the Pleasance, one of the biggest Fringe venue operators, at the EICC and its long-running courtyard.
According to the latest BBC annual report, around 57 per cent of adults in Scotland consume BBC Scotland content each week via TV and radio broadcasts, its iPlayer platform and the BBC website.
A spokesperson for BBC Scotland said: 'The BBC operates within a fiercely competitive marketplace and has experienced, since 2010, a 30% cut in real terms to its budget.
'As a result, tough choices have to be made when it comes to commissioning content with decisions being driven by what provides best value for money.
'With regards to headcount, in the last 12 months alone, more than 50 BBC roles in Scotland have been closed via a redundancy programme.
'The redundancy programme has finished. It ran from September last year until the end of March, as part of a pan-BBC drive to make £700m of savings, which is set against a £1bn real-terms cut to the overall budget in the last 15 years. There isn't a recruitment freeze across BBC Scotland at the moment.'