20 news posts to be axed in latest round of BBC Scotland cuts

TWENTY jobs are to be axed in the news and current affairs department at BBC Scotland, as part of planned cuts announced this time last year.

Yesterday, it was revealed the exact make-up of a second round of cuts, as outlined in a five-year plan revealed last December. With round one comprising a 100 posts going, this round is to be 76.

As well as the 20 posts going in news and current affairs, 36 will be in production and affecting producers, assistant producers and researchers.

The five-year plan was announced after the BBC failed to secure as big a licence fee as it wished, resulting in it saying it needed to make cuts totalling two billion pounds.

For BBC Scotland, that meant a mix of 230 posts being axed but 130 being created.

In the first round, that meant 35 posts in news and current affairs disappearing, offset by the creation of 22 new ones.

Applications for voluntary redundancy are now being sought.

The programme implications of this latest round of cuts have yet to be revealed.

Head of news and current affairs at BBC Scotland, Atholl Duncan, told allmediascotland: “A number of new posts will be created in news and current affairs to bolster investigations, political output and reporting around the country. The details of these new jobs will be expected in coming weeks.”