About the �� Feed

�� expenses and senior manager salary disclosure

2011-01-20T12:40:50+00:00

Today we have published the latest detailed quarterly expenses of our 110 most senior executives at the Corporation, covering the period July-September 2010. This is part of our continuing programme of transparency, and is the sixth time that we have published quarterly expenses. The headline is that total expense claims are down 35% year-on-year.

We're also publishing more detail on Senior Manager pay than ever before, with information about the salary levels of the remaining 462 permanent Licence Fee-funded Senior Managers at the ��. We know that Licence Fee payers want more information about how we spend their money, and this disclosure demonstrates that the �� is continuing to lead the way in being open and transparent.

Finally, a quick update on our progress in reducing the number of Senior Managers and the amount we pay them at the ��. Up to the end of December, we had cut the Senior Manager paybill by 13.6% and the number of senior managers by 8.5% from their August 2009 levels. By the end of the year we will make further reductions in order to deliver a 25% reduction in the pay bill and 20% reduction in headcount.

You can read more about our approach to reducing executives and talent pay here.

Caroline Thomson is the ��'s Chief Operating Officer

�� Disclosures Quarter One - April to June 2010

2010-10-15T11:02:04+00:00

"The �� has for some time now recognised that we must change and work harder to convince the public that we are spending the Licence Fee wisely. That is why over the last 15 months we have become both a more transparent organisation and a better value organisation, committed to serious reductions to senior manager numbers and pay.

"We are focussing relentlessly on delivering quality and better value. We are bearing down on costs right across the organisation so as much investment as possible goes into high-quality programmes. Whilst some expenses are necessary to do the job, the evidence shown today shows real and significant progress on that journey - we have cut expenses by a fifth and are reducing our pay bill by a quarter."

Caroline Thomson, �� Chief Operating Officer

Today we have published details of salaries, expenses and gifts, for the ��'s senior staff. The disclosures show the divisions of the �� which report directly to the Director-General, Mark Thompson.

For more detail around today's disclosures, read the real story behind �� executive and talent pay and the press release.

Laura Murray is Editor of the About the �� Blog

Read the blog Caroline Thomson wrote last year about the �� Disclosures - April to June 2009.

�� Disclosures: Quarter 4 2009-10

2010-07-15T10:38:45+00:00

Today we published quarter 4 of the ��'s 2009-10 disclosures around executive pay and expenses. The disclosures show the divisions of the �� which report directly to the Director-General, Mark Thompson. They give details of salaries, expenses and central bookings, gifts and hospitality received, and now, an annual declaration of personal interests.

Laura Murray is Editor of the About the �� Blog

Caroline Thomson's blog on �� Disclosure - April to June 2009

�� executive pay and expenses: October to December 2009

2010-04-19T15:01:07+00:00

This is a brief post to announce that we've just published quarter three of our disclosures around executive pay and expenses.

�� Disclosure: July to September 2009 - a Press Roundup

2010-02-09T16:53:33+00:00

This morning the �� released additions to its original disclosures around executive pay and expenses. These include lists of the business-related expenses of the 107 most senior decision-makers in the Corporation for the period July to September 2009. We have also published the Gifts and hospitality register for these senior managers covering the period April to June and July to September 2009.

In addition to this we've published the total amount that we pay to artists, presenters, musicians and other contributors over the financial year that ended in March 2009. This comes to Â£229m - 6.56% of the Licence Fee (further details are contained here).

Here's a round-up of some of the headlines:

In the Daily Mail: '�� pays Â£230million every year to top presenters and actors'.

The Independent earlier in the day had the headline: '�� pays Â£229m a year for 'talent'' (though they later amended their online copy to read: '��'s top stars paid Â£54 million') while Broadcast gave us: '�� spent Â£229m on talent last year' (note: this is a subscriber only link).

The Guardian concentrated on the proportion that went to presenters earning more than Â£150,000 per annum with: '�� spent Â£54m on top-earning stars'.

Predictably, by this afternoon, the Evening Standard had escalated the revelation into an: 'Outrage over �� cover-up of stars' Â£230m pay' - indicating that the story may still be appearing over the next few days.

Meanwhile the Telegraph while also running with the response of MPs to the talent disclosures ('�� like the 'Duckhouse gang' for not disclosing star salaries, say MPs') but also focussed on the executive expenses, with: '�� executives' expenses up by 8 per cent'. Later in the day Broadcast also focused on executive cuts with: '�� execs cut back on presents' (subscriber only article), reporting that �� execs had been, ' cutting back on claims for presents and extravagant schmoozing.'

�� Disclosure - April to June 2009

2009-11-12T08:32:30+00:00

Earlier this year, Mark Thompson made a commitment to make the �� a leader in transparency in the public sector. Today, in an important step towards this goal, the �� has published a new set of pages that clearly set out senior managers' pay and expenses along with a full job description. In this video I discuss with Konnie Huq the thinking behind this progressive move.

The �� must always be accountable to the public which funds it and today's announcement is another step on the road to ever greater transparency and openness. We are meeting this challenge at a time when the public are demanding greater levels of accountability across the entire public sector and the �� is determined not just to deliver the basic information but to do so in a way which marks a step-change in openness, simplicity and accountability. We are meeting the spirit as well as the letter of the law.

So today we are taking a significant step forward in opening up the ��. In publishing the precise salaries and full business-related expenses for more than one hundred senior managers at the �� we are going way beyond the disclosure of executive board level directors that many comparable organisations reveal. We are doing this because we believe it is the right thing to do, and there should be transparency around how we reward the most senior members of staff. These individuals have been identified according to their salary, their responsibilities and influence for spending public money and for overseeing the ��'s services and operations. The publication includes a number of the individuals whose salaries and expenses were published earlier in the year.

We are also going further in providing complete transparency over business-related expenses. Most organisations account for expenses in two ways - out-of-pocket business expenses, and centrally booked costs. Where the �� is different is that we are publishing both, which are listed today in two categories - e-expenses and central bookings. Central bookings relate to services that have been booked using the ��'s centralised system such as taxis, flights and hotels. E-expenses are costs that are incurred by individuals such as hospitality and business meals or travel when they cannot access the central bookings system.

We are also building on our disclosure policy earlier in the year where we kept redactions to a minimum. In total just under 3,000 lines of information have been published today and the �� has made redactions to only 1% of the records to protect confidentiality.

Of course there has been much debate in the media about the level of senior managers' pay at the ��. The figures published today represent senior management salaries and expenses for April to June 2009. In the context of today's announcement it is important to remember that we recently announced that we will be reducing the total pay bill for senior managers by 25% over the next three years and will be reducing the number of senior managers by 18% over the same period. Alongside a new remuneration policy for senior managers we published a report that found we are paying between 25% and 65% less for our senior managers than comparable organisations.

Inevitably in a painful recession any spend is likely to attract comment. However, in reviewing today's material I am of the view that when you hold up both the salaries of our senior managers and their expenses to other comparable organisations in our industry we have a record which stands up to scrutiny. It is also important to recognise that many of the meetings where expenses are incurred result in deals being secured that generate millions of pounds in terms of co-production money and programme sales which the �� can then reinvest in �� content that I hope the public enjoy and value.

Our decision to disclose salaries and business-related expenses I believe demonstrates a new era of openness at the ��.

With that in mind, we decided not simply to publish a 3,000-line spreadsheet, but instead to order and present the information in a way that is most useful. The public will be able to find the information that we have announced today on the About the �� section of the �� website. Here not only will people find the precise financial details of the executives listed, but it also sets out specific detail on each senior manager in terms of management and decision-making responsibility.

The next publication will be in the first quarter of 2010, when we will publish the expenses for July to September 2009. Alongside this we will publish a precise total amount that the �� spends on talent alongside the Register of Interests and Gifts & Hospitality.

Ultimately we hope that today's announcement and the process that we started earlier this year will go some way to dispelling the myths that are sometimes propagated about the �� and how it operates. We recognise that there is still some distance to go, but we are confident that the final destination will be a stronger, deeper relationship with our audience based on trust and their belief that the �� continues to have an important role to play in their lives. Read more about the announcement.

About the �������� Feed

�������� expenses and senior manager salary disclosure

�������� Disclosures Quarter One - April to June 2010

�������� Disclosures: Quarter 4 2009-10

�������� executive pay and expenses: October to December 2009

�������� Disclosure: July to September 2009 - a Press Roundup