Post by Teddy Bear on Nov 22, 2012 22:55:08 GMT
GGRRrrrr!
Parade of BBC chiefs hit pay-off jackpot: MPs' fury as executive gets £670,000 - even though she wanted to quit
By Paul Revoir
Losing a well-paid job at the BBC is like ‘winning the lottery’ because of the huge pay-off that inevitably follows, MPs said yesterday.
They accused the corporation of ‘hosing down’ departing executives with licence payers’ money as details of the extraordinary exit packages for former top executive Caroline Thomson and director general George Entwistle were made public.
They were left ‘incredulous’ when learning that former chief operating officer Miss Thomson left with a £670,000 pay-off – more than twice her £330,000 salary – even though she had wanted to quit.
Senior Labour MP Margaret Hodge suggested that the entire leaving package in September was essentially manufactured to ‘compensate’ Miss Thomson after losing out to Mr Entwistle in the race for the director generalship.
Miss Hodge, chairman of the influential Public Accounts Committee, said: ‘She didn’t get the top job and she wanted to leave, so someone created a redundancy where there wasn’t one.
'A lot of people don’t get the jobs they want to.’
In addition, Mr Entwistle’s lavish deal – which approaches £500,000 and was agreed ‘for the good of the licence-fee payer’ – has brought to £4million the sums paid out to ten departing BBC executives in the past two years.
Tory MP Guto Bebb said: ‘It does look as though losing a job at the BBC is the same as winning the lottery.’
The row took the gloss off the unveiling of Royal Opera House boss Tony Hall as the corporation’s new director general yesterday.
Some observers even wondered whether the timing of the announcement about Lord Hall was an attempt to divert attention from the embarrassing Commons scenes.
Mr Entwistle quit earlier this month after only 54 days in charge. But on top of his well-publicised £450,000 pay-off – double that to which he was entitled – his lavish exit package included another £45,000 for bills for lawyers and communications advisers.
The deal included up to £10,000 for the legal advice to help him secure his pay-off.
He also received a year’s Bupa private medical cover, legal expenses of up to £25,000 to help him give evidence to two inquiries into the Jimmy Savile affair, and £10,000 for public relations assistance to cope with the ‘considerable amount of door-stepping’ from reporters.
Yesterday BBC trustee Anthony Fry was repeatedly criticised when he appeared in front of the Public Accounts Committee.
Anger: BBC trustee Anthony Fry said he was irritated by Entwistle's demands but it was the right decision to approve it
One MP said the Entwistle saga revealed the BBC’s ‘complete lack of understanding’ for the ‘punter’ who pays for the licence fee.
Mr Fry expressed his own ‘irritation and aggravation’ at the terms of the pay-out, admitting that members of the public would regard the amount as ‘in the stratosphere’.
But he revealed that Mr Entwistle had made it clear through his lawyers that the £450,000 deal for his resignation was the ‘only thing that was on the table’.
Mr Fry said that had the director general been fired it would have been likely to cost the corporation a further £80,000 if it had gone to an employment tribunal.
The pay-off, along with the details of Miss Thomson’s exit deal, left MPs on the committee angry.
Miss Thomson, who left after 37 years, is understood to have received a year’s pay for being made redundant and a further year’s pay for payment of her notice period.
Committee chairman Miss Hodge suggested the redundancy had been a ‘device to pay off her disappointment’.
She added: ‘She didn’t get the job and then she goes. Fine.
'She might be really, really fed up and felt she did not want to work for the organisation any more... You can’t then give them £670,000 of licence fee payers’ money. It’s just awful.’
Her colleague on the committee, Tory MP Richard Bacon, said: ‘You don’t hose them down with money as compensation. That is what this looks like. It really does.’
Of Mr Entwistle’s deal, Miss Hodge said: ‘We express incredulity. It demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of how this is viewed in the public domain, given that it is licence fee-payers’ money. That is the real shocker about this.
‘He took a public job, he was hugely well remunerated, he failed in 54 days, he gets incredibly rewarded for failure... There is no understanding of what the ordinary punter turning on the telly feels about it.’
There were gasps from committee members when it emerged that 574 BBC bosses received private healthcare as part of their deals, worth in the region of £2million in total.
Miss Hodge later told Radio 4’s World At One she was concerned by a series of severance packages for top BBC managers, including deputy director general Mark Byford, who received almost £1million, and former marketing director Sharon Baylay, who got nearly £400,000.
She said: ‘This is taxpayers’ money. You really have to think very, very carefully when you are spending that money that it is in the public interest.’
Mr Fry offered a faint hope that some of Mr Entwistle’s pay-out could be recouped, depending what came out of the inquiry into the decision to drop the original Newsnight inquiry into Jimmy Savile last year.
The BBC is being urged to allow spending watchdog the National Audit Office to look at the terms of Mr Entwistle’s departure, but the corporation is resisting the move.
In the last two years alone, leaving BBC executives have taken more than £8.5m of license-fee payer money in payouts and pensions
In the last two years alone, leaving BBC executives have taken more than £8.5m of license-fee payer money in payouts and pensions
A BBC spokesman said: ‘Between August 2009 and August 2012 the BBC has reduced its senior management numbers by 29 per cent and its senior management pay bill by 30 per cent.
‘Part of this restructuring requires us to pay redundancy packages for senior management who in some cases have worked at the BBC for many years.
'In all cases by closing the posts the redundancy payments will have paid for themselves in under two years.’
- She got two years' salary after the chief operating officer role was scrapped
- Thomson one of 10 execs to leave since 2010 and receive £4.2m
- George Entwistle demanded £500,000 of cash and perks to quit, MPs told
- Trustee Anthony Fry says deal was for good of taxpayer and BBC
- 'Entwistle made it very clear to resign he wanted £450,000,' he said
- 574 senior managers at Beeb get free private healthcare worth £2m
- Royal Opera boss Tony Hall appointed new director general today
By Paul Revoir
Losing a well-paid job at the BBC is like ‘winning the lottery’ because of the huge pay-off that inevitably follows, MPs said yesterday.
They accused the corporation of ‘hosing down’ departing executives with licence payers’ money as details of the extraordinary exit packages for former top executive Caroline Thomson and director general George Entwistle were made public.
They were left ‘incredulous’ when learning that former chief operating officer Miss Thomson left with a £670,000 pay-off – more than twice her £330,000 salary – even though she had wanted to quit.
Senior Labour MP Margaret Hodge suggested that the entire leaving package in September was essentially manufactured to ‘compensate’ Miss Thomson after losing out to Mr Entwistle in the race for the director generalship.
Miss Hodge, chairman of the influential Public Accounts Committee, said: ‘She didn’t get the top job and she wanted to leave, so someone created a redundancy where there wasn’t one.
'A lot of people don’t get the jobs they want to.’
In addition, Mr Entwistle’s lavish deal – which approaches £500,000 and was agreed ‘for the good of the licence-fee payer’ – has brought to £4million the sums paid out to ten departing BBC executives in the past two years.
Tory MP Guto Bebb said: ‘It does look as though losing a job at the BBC is the same as winning the lottery.’
The row took the gloss off the unveiling of Royal Opera House boss Tony Hall as the corporation’s new director general yesterday.
Some observers even wondered whether the timing of the announcement about Lord Hall was an attempt to divert attention from the embarrassing Commons scenes.
Mr Entwistle quit earlier this month after only 54 days in charge. But on top of his well-publicised £450,000 pay-off – double that to which he was entitled – his lavish exit package included another £45,000 for bills for lawyers and communications advisers.
The deal included up to £10,000 for the legal advice to help him secure his pay-off.
He also received a year’s Bupa private medical cover, legal expenses of up to £25,000 to help him give evidence to two inquiries into the Jimmy Savile affair, and £10,000 for public relations assistance to cope with the ‘considerable amount of door-stepping’ from reporters.
Yesterday BBC trustee Anthony Fry was repeatedly criticised when he appeared in front of the Public Accounts Committee.
Anger: BBC trustee Anthony Fry said he was irritated by Entwistle's demands but it was the right decision to approve it
One MP said the Entwistle saga revealed the BBC’s ‘complete lack of understanding’ for the ‘punter’ who pays for the licence fee.
Mr Fry expressed his own ‘irritation and aggravation’ at the terms of the pay-out, admitting that members of the public would regard the amount as ‘in the stratosphere’.
But he revealed that Mr Entwistle had made it clear through his lawyers that the £450,000 deal for his resignation was the ‘only thing that was on the table’.
Mr Fry said that had the director general been fired it would have been likely to cost the corporation a further £80,000 if it had gone to an employment tribunal.
ENTWISTLE'S EXTRAORDINARY DEMANDS TO QUIT DG JOB
One year's salary - £450,000
Bupa policy - £1,200 per year
Legal fees for setting up deal - up to £10,000
Legal fees for 2 Newsnight inquiries - £25,000
'Communications budget' - £10,000
Pension pot - £883,000 or £40,000 per year
The pay-off, along with the details of Miss Thomson’s exit deal, left MPs on the committee angry.
Miss Thomson, who left after 37 years, is understood to have received a year’s pay for being made redundant and a further year’s pay for payment of her notice period.
Committee chairman Miss Hodge suggested the redundancy had been a ‘device to pay off her disappointment’.
She added: ‘She didn’t get the job and then she goes. Fine.
'She might be really, really fed up and felt she did not want to work for the organisation any more... You can’t then give them £670,000 of licence fee payers’ money. It’s just awful.’
Her colleague on the committee, Tory MP Richard Bacon, said: ‘You don’t hose them down with money as compensation. That is what this looks like. It really does.’
WOMAN BEATEN BY ENTWISTLE LEFT WITH £670,000 GOODBYE
Caroline Thomson
Caroline Thomson was the BBC’s top woman executive and favourite to be the first female director general but was pipped by rival George Entwistle.
She earned £330,000 as chief operating officer but left in September after her post was axed.
On top of her £670,000 pay-off she left with a £1.71million pension pot.
The 58-year-old first joined the BBC after starting as a trainee journalist in 1975.
Since the BBC began publishing the expenses of its top executives, her taxi claims received attention with her regular use of cabs costing thousands of pounds of licence fee money each year.
Ms Thomson is married to the former Blairite advisor Lord Liddle – her second husband – and has one son
Of Mr Entwistle’s deal, Miss Hodge said: ‘We express incredulity. It demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of how this is viewed in the public domain, given that it is licence fee-payers’ money. That is the real shocker about this.
‘He took a public job, he was hugely well remunerated, he failed in 54 days, he gets incredibly rewarded for failure... There is no understanding of what the ordinary punter turning on the telly feels about it.’
There were gasps from committee members when it emerged that 574 BBC bosses received private healthcare as part of their deals, worth in the region of £2million in total.
Miss Hodge later told Radio 4’s World At One she was concerned by a series of severance packages for top BBC managers, including deputy director general Mark Byford, who received almost £1million, and former marketing director Sharon Baylay, who got nearly £400,000.
She said: ‘This is taxpayers’ money. You really have to think very, very carefully when you are spending that money that it is in the public interest.’
Mr Fry offered a faint hope that some of Mr Entwistle’s pay-out could be recouped, depending what came out of the inquiry into the decision to drop the original Newsnight inquiry into Jimmy Savile last year.
The BBC is being urged to allow spending watchdog the National Audit Office to look at the terms of Mr Entwistle’s departure, but the corporation is resisting the move.
In the last two years alone, leaving BBC executives have taken more than £8.5m of license-fee payer money in payouts and pensions
In the last two years alone, leaving BBC executives have taken more than £8.5m of license-fee payer money in payouts and pensions
A BBC spokesman said: ‘Between August 2009 and August 2012 the BBC has reduced its senior management numbers by 29 per cent and its senior management pay bill by 30 per cent.
‘Part of this restructuring requires us to pay redundancy packages for senior management who in some cases have worked at the BBC for many years.
'In all cases by closing the posts the redundancy payments will have paid for themselves in under two years.’
