Source : The Times

Mark Thompson’s credibility as Director-General of the BBC was dented yesterday after the corporation's Chairman said that he had not been able to approve a sweeping management reorganisation that will cost up to 6,000 jobs.

The setback reflects the fact that Mr Thompson's planning has only reached the point at which he will be able to announce general outlines of the biggest single shake-up of the BBC's 28,000-strong workforce next Tuesday.

The Director-General is expected to target overhead savings of about 15 per cent across the board and confirm that more than 1,000 staff will relocate to Manchester, including the sport and children's departments, at a cost that may reach £600 million.

But it now appears that Mr Thompson will not be able to provide firm details as to how much the changes will cost and to what degree they will affect each part of the organisation.

Michael Grade, the BBC Chairman, told a public seminar on the future of the corporation's governance that while he and his fellow governors "were in a position to support (Mr Thompson's) strategy", they had asked the BBC's executives to "bring us more detailed plans, which will be subject to external, independent valuation and audit before the governors sign off the Director-General's proposals".

Rumours about the planned cutbacks have been circulating throughout the BBC during autumn once it became clear that the Director-General intended to introduce radical reform. The reorganisation is driven by a desire to make the BBC as lean as possible as it enters a critical period. The Government is gearing up to renew its ten-year Royal Charter.

© The Times