BBC heading for avoidable 'doom spiral' with constant cuts, says NUJ
The NUJ has warned that the BBC risks becoming trapped in an avoidable “doom spiral”, harming both workers and UK audiences, if the nation’s broadcaster continues its regime of brutal cuts.
In April, the NUJ sounded the alarm after BBC management announced plans to cut between 1,800-2,000 jobs as part of a 10% reduction to its total costs by the end of 2028-29.
In June, the BBC announced its intention to axe 550 roles - including around 200 in BBC News and 250 in BBC Nations - plus TV and radio programmes such as Radio 4’s The World Tonight and the World Service’s The Conversation.
This week has seen further announcements of proposed cuts - particularly affecting BBC Local, BBC Sport, and BBC Wales as well as BBC Scotland, Business and Operations and other areas - that will put hundreds of members at risk of redundancy. The NUJ will be working with its reps and holding member meetings to go through proposals in detail.
These announcements extend the BBC’s streak of slashing its workforce. In July, the NUJ urged the BBC to reconsider its decision to cut dedicated foreign correspondents covering 14 European countries for the broadcaster. The BBC has also withdrawn its promise of jobs for apprentices working in BBC News - a programme designed to help increase representation and entry routes into journalism, particularly for young people from diverse working class backgrounds.
At the TUC Congress last week, delegates passed a composited NUJ motion instructing the TUC to press the UK government for urgent intervention to stop cuts to public service broadcasters and to mobilise public support for BBC workers. The NUJ has also created a template letter for members to send to their MPs, urging them to sign our Early Day Motion, and launched a joint union petition through the TUC so that the public can get involved.
The cuts proposed by management come at a time when BBC Charter Renewal is underway. The NUJ’s Back The BBC campaign, which reflects members’ priorities, has called for a new Charter to include sufficient and secure funding and vital governance reforms, including proper representation and real independence.
On Saturday, the NUJ held a major national conference on the future of Welsh public interest journalism in Cardiff, where calls were made for sustainable BBC funding so that nations, regions and communities across the UK have access to representative local reporting. Speaking at the conference, Wales First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth said: "If we want a sustainable media, we need to invest in people. We need good jobs, proper training opportunities for young people to enter the profession, and diversity in our newsrooms."
After meeting the NUJ’s BBC reps and parliamentary group earlier this year, in July the Culture Secretary said that the UK government is “almost certainly” going to pursue worker representation on the BBC board while removing political appointments, noting the “compelling case” the union had made. However, there’s not yet clarity on the long-term financial future of the broadcaster - an issue on which the NUJ and fellow unions continue to push the government.
Laura Davison, NUJ general secretary, said:
"The BBC's ongoing campaign of cuts is devastating and demoralising for our members and severely undermines the broadcaster's ability to serve audiences across the UK. The latest wave of cuts piles on the misery already being felt.
"BBC Local Radio attracts millions of listeners around the country each week. The BBC also boasts that it provides 'the UK’s most widely used sport service'. It is the BBC's dedicated workforce that has made it a success, and the broadcaster will not be able to continue providing quality journalism and original programming without them.
"Our members deserve better. Previous rounds of cuts have resulted in unmanageable workloads, low morale, loss of staff, and fewer opportunities for freelances or career progression. Another round of cuts will add to that burden and stress.
"Audiences deserve better too. Millions of people across the UK now live in news deserts. The public wants original, quality, and genuinely local news and programming - not more syndication and re-runs. We have already had major cuts to BBC Local Radio in recent years. More widely, hundreds of local papers have gone extinct, and there have been mass redundancies - just last week Reach, the UK and Ireland's largest commercial publisher, announced another 160 job cuts.
"Instead of cutting staffing and services to the bone, management should be focussing on securing positive reforms that guarantee a bright future for our public broadcaster.
"The more cuts the BBC makes, the more its services suffer. This makes it more difficult for the broadcaster to justify public spending, which in turn leads to further cuts. The BBC is at risk of entering an inescapable doom spiral if it continues in this direction.
"This is where the UK government must step in. The BBC has been undermined by years of underinvestment and interference. The NUJ welcomes the Culture Secretary's constructive engagement with unions on Charter Renewal, but our members need action now. This week the government has announced plans to create a National Centre for Information Defence. The aim of helping communities identify and combat disinformation is laudable - but is utterly undermined if cuts to the national broadcaster's local, regional and national news are allowed to go ahead. The union is writing to the Chancellor calling for urgent intervention in the Autumn budget to protect jobs. The government can alleviate pressure on the BBC by taking back full funding of the World Service and free licences for eligible over-75s.
“The NUJ will continue its Back The BBC campaign, calling for secure funding and vital governance reforms under Charter Renewal. We will also carry on supporting members collectively and individually though these difficult times. The union strongly encourages BBC workers to stand with us and get involved in the union. Working together gives us a stronger collective voice and helps us fight to protect jobs and programming.”
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