BBC unions delay pay claim due to COVID-19

Bectu and other unions at the BBC have agreed to postpone annual pay negotiations until September due to the unprecedented impact coronavirus is having on the broadcaster.

BBC Broadcasting House, London

Pay negotiations would normally have started with the view to reaching an  agreement that would be implemented in August.

However, after careful consideration  the unions have recognised that the BBC is not operating in ‘normal’ circumstances.

The BBC’s response to coronavirus has led to unexpected financial pressures  at a time when it was planning on making savings to meet its obligations laid out under the BBC Charter.

The pandemic has  meant that collecting licence fee payments for the over-75s who are not eligible to pension credit has been delayed until August.

National secretary Noel McClean said: “We know many of our BBC members have been working above and beyond to help  deliver its output in extremely difficult circumstances.

“However, we know the BBC is under immense financial pressure and, as a body which receives public funding, is unable to receive financial support from the government during this period. It is our view (shared by the other unions), that if we put in a pay claim now the BBC would be unable and unwilling to engage meaningfully.”

Once pay negotiations start again Bectu will work towards any agreement being backdated to 1 August.

Bectu also continues to re-iterate the message that the BBC should not be responsible for the cost of free licence fees for the over-75s. The new shadow culture secretary Jo Stevens wrote in the Daily Mirror, last week, that Labour will continue to push for the government to guarantee free licence fees for the elderly.

Bectu supported the call adding: “During the Covid-19 crisis the BBC has more than proved its value to the nation and has fulfilled its public service duty to inform, educate and entertain to an exemplary standard.”