The BBC is ‘fleecing’ licence fee payers by hiring a £125,000-a-year Head of Belonging, MPs have complained.
The Corporation is offering the generous salary for a Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging who will be in charge of creating ‘an inclusive workplace culture where everyone feels they can belong’.
The position was announced at a time when the BBC has admitted to ‘serious flaws’ by blowing £400,000 on a Gaza documentary fronted by the teenage son of a Hamas government official.
It is also trying to recoup £200,000 from disgraced news anchor Huw Edwards that was paid to him between his arrest for child abuse images and his resignation.
The successful candidate will lead a team of ‘specialist diversity, inclusion and belonging practitioners’ and ’embed inclusive practices into recruitment, retention, development and engagement’.
Tory MP Joe Robertson said: ‘Once again, British licence fee payers are being fleeced – more overpaid management roles means more rubbish on the telly.
‘Diversity and inclusion should already be embedded through the BBC and supported by the HR department. These grossly overpaid roles need to be scrapped.’
Reform MP Rupert Lowe posted on X: ‘We must scrap the licence fee, make it a subscription service and let the people decide – suck the poison out.’
The Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging will be in charge of creating ‘an inclusive workplace culture’ (Pictured: BBC Director-General Tim Davie)
A BBC source said the hybrid post would consolidate two roles in the diversity and inclusion team, which is part of its HR department (Pictured: The BBC building)
A BBC source said the hybrid post, which is 35 hours a week, would consolidate two roles in the diversity and inclusion team, which is part of its HR department.
It comes as disgraced broadcaster Huw Edwards has been ‘unwilling’ to pay back the £200,000 salary he pocketed between his arrest and resignation, a BBC top boss has revealed.
Chairman Samir Shah admitted today that the corporation has not been able to recover any salary as yet from the former BBC star, who was convicted of downloading child sex abuse images last year, and described the situation as ‘quite frustrating’.
Last year, Edwards, 63, was handed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, after he admitted to having indecent images of children.
After his guilty plea in July, the BBC asked him to return his salary, which he was paid during the period following his arrest in November 2023 until he resigned in April 2024.
Asked if they have been able to recover any salary from Edwards during the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Tuesday, Dr Shah said: ‘We have not… We’ve obviously asked, and we’ve said it many times, but he seems unwilling.’
And in another controversy for the BBC, A Hamas leader’s teenage son who narrated the BBC’s Gaza documentary has warned the corporation he holds it responsible if ‘anything happens’ to him.
Abdullah al-Yazouri, from Gaza, Palestine, contributed to the recent controversial documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone.
Disgraced broadcaster Huw Edwards (pictured) has been ‘unwilling’ to pay back the £200,000 salary he pocketed between his arrest and resignation, a BBC top boss has revealed
The film was pulled from iPlayer last month after the BBC acknowledged ‘serious flaws’ in how it was produced.
Viewers were not told that Abdullah, the 14-year-old boy who narrated it, was the son of a senior Hamas minister.
It also later emerged that around £790 was paid into a bank account belonging to Abdullah’s sister.
Their father, Ayman al-Yazouri, is the deputy agriculture minister in Gaza’s Hamas-run government.
The funds, which are equivalent to a month’s salary in Gaza, were transferred by the production company Hoyo Films, who made the programme. A full audit of the money used to make the programme has been demanded by the BBC.
