BBC Staff In Town Hall Revolt Over Pay Rise & Romesh Ranganathan Ad

EXCLUSIVE: Is BBC director general Matt Brittin‘s honeymoon period already coming to an end? Judging by the mood during a BBC town hall meeting on Monday, the realities of running the UK’s national broadcaster may be coming into sharper focus for the former Google man.

Brittin and members of his top team were confronted with a barrage of unhappy questions from employees, who fired shots at plans for a below-inflation 1% pay rise, voiced anxiety about 2,000 layoffs, and lamented the low morale among colleagues. There was also some opprobrium for the big new BBC ad campaign, starring comedian Romesh Ranganathan.

In a written question that captured the mood, one employee said they are treated like “second-rate citizens” and that the 1% pay proposal is “an insult.” Another insider said the pay offer and job cuts are “unfair and demoralizing.” A third person pointedly asked: “A 1% pay rise will eat into my family’s finances so severely, I will have to cut back on something. What do you suggest I cut back on?”

Others turned to black humor. “Great news that we’ve managed to pinch The 1% Club from ITV,” one employee wrote during the call. “Oh sorry, that’s just the pay proposal.”

Bérangère Michel, the BBC’s chief financial officer, responded: “We know that 1% is not much. We wanted to do more, but we can’t afford it. So we implemented a minimum amount to protect those with the lowest pay, and that’s also why the executive team is not getting a pay increase this year.”

The BBC is planning to slash costs by £500M ($670M) over the next three years, expanding on an existing target worth £1.5B. The bigger picture behind the cuts is that 94% of the UK population use the BBC every month, but fewer than 80% pay the £180 annual licence fee. The BBC is attempting to bridge this gap and can no longer dip into its cash reserves to fund operations.

Brittin told staff that the BBC was encountering the same financial pressures as government departments, private sector companies, and charities. “We’re all having to be prudent, and that doesn’t make it easier for people, but we are all in a similar boat here,” he said.

The pay rise is under discussion with unions, and speculation is already mounting that it could lead to industrial action. Some BBC employees compared the 1% pay rise with presenter earnings, which increased nearly £3M to a six-year high of £143M in the corporation’s last financial year.

“Before he left, Scott Mills was on around £750k, far more than any other radio presenter. What contributed to this enormous salary? £750k could go so far and reduce the amount of staff leaving the BBC,” one insider wrote. A journalist proposed cutting by 10% the salaries of staff earning more than £100,000 to “avoid the current below-inflation 1% pay offer (in effect a pay cut) for the majority.”

Brittin stressed it was “right” that the BBC offers competitive pay to attract talent, but the director general said he would examine the number of senior managers across the corporation. “We’ve said we’re definitely going to be looking at at least 10% savings on senior management roles,” he explained. “What I hear from some people, and I haven’t got deep enough yet, is that sometimes it feels like there are very many layers of oversight and not enough empowerment … that’s part of what we need to look at.”

Others asked how much the BBC spent on its “What has the BBC ever done for me?” ad, starring Ranganathan. The campaign reboots a 40-year-old promotional video starring John Cleese, and is designed to showcase to UK viewers how much the BBC offers the nation.

“How much did the new ‘What has the BBC ever done for me’ campaign cost? Totally excessive!” remarked an insider. Another added: “How much did the Romesh advert cost the BBC at a time we’re being told to both accept a 1% pay rise and be on constant alert that our job might be closed in the coming months?” Others questioned its content, bemoaning its failure to forefront local services, the World Service, and online offerings.

On the cost of the campaign, the BBC’s chief customer officer Kerris Bright said: “It’s a really fair challenge, and we’re all facing those challenges. Marketing is facing the same challenges. We’re all having to look deeply at where we invest the resources that we do have and where we think we’ll get the best return for them.”

She continued: “I think we need to invest in telling [audiences] the value that we create and how we do it. So I think yes, it is the right time to do that [advert] and to be careful with our investments. We’ve tried to be really smart in how we’ve done it.”