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19-01-2009, 04:33 PM
The prices of hundreds of homes owned by BBC employees in London will be guaranteed by licence-fee payers under a relocation package aimed at enticing staff to Salford.
Employees will also receive £5,000 in relocation expenses, up to £3,000 to pay for new carpets and curtains and will keep thousands of pounds in London weighting allowances, it emerged yesterday. The decision to use the licence fee to underwrite property values in a falling housing market has been condemned as unacceptable.
The BBC said last night that it was reviewing the planned relocation terms for 1,630 staff because of the economic downturn. Details of the packages will increase anger at the corporation's decision to move more than 2,500 jobs from London to increase the percentage of programmes made in the “regions and nations”.
The BBC is moving five departments, including sport, children's programmes and Radio 5 Live, to Salford Quays, Greater Manchester. The BBC plans to move half of its production outside London by 2016, with Question Time, The Weakest Link and Newsnight moving to the Pacific Quay complex in Glasgow.
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Under the “guaranteed house purchase scheme”, employees on permanent contracts will receive up to 95 per cent of the market price for a property. The BBC will incur any loss on the price when the property is sold and will pay for solicitors' fees, surveys and stamp duty, home information packs and building society charges.
The move to Salford, which will cost an estimated £200 million, is believed to have been opposed by a number of star presenters at the corporation. Simon Mayo, the Radio 5 Live afternoon presenter, is reported to have said that he will not move, and has been offered an alternative job on Radio 2. Peter Allen, the presenter of the Drive show, is also said to be unhappy. David Dimbleby, the veteran Question Time presenter, is reported to have expressed concerns about the transfer.
Details of the relocation payments were released after an application under the Freedom of Information Act. Details of the contract between the BBC and Cartus, a specialist relocation contractor, have been withheld by the broadcaster, citing commercial reasons. All staff must decide whether to move by September 30, with most relocating between April and December 2011.
Removal costs will be paid and the BBC is also offering a packing and unpacking service; storage costs will be paid for up to three months.
The BBC says that it expects the guaranteed house purchase scheme to apply only to a minority of staff moving north, but the exact numbers are not yet known. Staff on short-term contracts or who do not own a house will not be eligible. They will be paid a maximum of £8,000 for the move.
Matthew Sinclair, the research director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: “Guaranteeing staff against falls in the value of London homes [is] a slap in the face to the ordinary taxpayer. Providing this kind of expensive subsidy to staff at the taxpayers' expense isn't acceptable.”
The BBC has told the Government that it is committed to the move north because it “addresses concerns that the organisation is not fully representative of the peoples of the UK”.
A corporation spokesman said: “We are fully aware of the harsh economic situation but we do need to move significant numbers of staff to a new operational centre in Salford. We seek to offer relocation assistance which is comparable to that offered across the private and public sectors.”
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5542507.ece
Employees will also receive £5,000 in relocation expenses, up to £3,000 to pay for new carpets and curtains and will keep thousands of pounds in London weighting allowances, it emerged yesterday. The decision to use the licence fee to underwrite property values in a falling housing market has been condemned as unacceptable.
The BBC said last night that it was reviewing the planned relocation terms for 1,630 staff because of the economic downturn. Details of the packages will increase anger at the corporation's decision to move more than 2,500 jobs from London to increase the percentage of programmes made in the “regions and nations”.
The BBC is moving five departments, including sport, children's programmes and Radio 5 Live, to Salford Quays, Greater Manchester. The BBC plans to move half of its production outside London by 2016, with Question Time, The Weakest Link and Newsnight moving to the Pacific Quay complex in Glasgow.
Related Links
Under the “guaranteed house purchase scheme”, employees on permanent contracts will receive up to 95 per cent of the market price for a property. The BBC will incur any loss on the price when the property is sold and will pay for solicitors' fees, surveys and stamp duty, home information packs and building society charges.
The move to Salford, which will cost an estimated £200 million, is believed to have been opposed by a number of star presenters at the corporation. Simon Mayo, the Radio 5 Live afternoon presenter, is reported to have said that he will not move, and has been offered an alternative job on Radio 2. Peter Allen, the presenter of the Drive show, is also said to be unhappy. David Dimbleby, the veteran Question Time presenter, is reported to have expressed concerns about the transfer.
Details of the relocation payments were released after an application under the Freedom of Information Act. Details of the contract between the BBC and Cartus, a specialist relocation contractor, have been withheld by the broadcaster, citing commercial reasons. All staff must decide whether to move by September 30, with most relocating between April and December 2011.
Removal costs will be paid and the BBC is also offering a packing and unpacking service; storage costs will be paid for up to three months.
The BBC says that it expects the guaranteed house purchase scheme to apply only to a minority of staff moving north, but the exact numbers are not yet known. Staff on short-term contracts or who do not own a house will not be eligible. They will be paid a maximum of £8,000 for the move.
Matthew Sinclair, the research director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: “Guaranteeing staff against falls in the value of London homes [is] a slap in the face to the ordinary taxpayer. Providing this kind of expensive subsidy to staff at the taxpayers' expense isn't acceptable.”
The BBC has told the Government that it is committed to the move north because it “addresses concerns that the organisation is not fully representative of the peoples of the UK”.
A corporation spokesman said: “We are fully aware of the harsh economic situation but we do need to move significant numbers of staff to a new operational centre in Salford. We seek to offer relocation assistance which is comparable to that offered across the private and public sectors.”
* Have your say
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5542507.ece