Britain’s public broadcaster is taking measures to save money and has started sending out resignation letters to very close presenters such as Hugh Edwards, Rita Chakrabarty, Clive Maire and Sophie Raworth, the British press reported on Sunday.

BBC stars have been given the chance to quit voluntarily as British media suggest the UK public broadcaster is taking measures to save money.

The letter was signed by Philippa Busby, acting editor-in-chief of news and current affairs, and was sent to BBC1 and Radio 4 stars, according to The Irish Mirror and The Nottingham Post.

“As you know, in 2022 we announced a number of changes at BBC News which meant that some colleagues were at risk of redundancy, including some colleagues in senior roles,” the letter, published by The Mail on Sunday, read.

The letter goes on to suggest that the stars of the channel who “would like to consider leaving the BBC voluntarily” to schedule a meeting with the head of the personnel department.

According to a BBC source, all the top presenters received the letter on the same day.

What is the salary of BBC stars?

The BBC confirmed that the letter had been sent to The Mirror, but instead suggested that it was not about new job cuts but about “a staffing program linked to already announced austerity, which is not targeting specific people but the same post “.

The BBC took this step to avoid forced redundancies, according to a TV insider.

Hosts must respond to the email by Friday. According to the same source quoted by the Daily Mail, severance pay at the BBC is capped at £150,000, and the highest paid staff are unlikely to be covered by that amount.

Figures released by the corporation last year show Hugh Edwards earned more than £410,000.

Sophie Raworth had an annual salary of more than £310,000, while Clive Maire had an annual salary of around £260,000.

The BBC has announced massive job cuts

The BBC Group announced in September that it was shutting down hundreds of stations from its international service, at the same time as the massive online transmission of foreign-language programs that had previously been broadcast by its radio and television stations, AFP reported.

Under financial pressure from the Conservative government in London and facing a public exodus to online platforms, Britain’s public audiovisual group, which is preparing to celebrate its centenary, announced a radical transformation plan in May.

The aim is to save £500m (€559.2m) to cover the shortfall left in its accounts by the royalty freeze and to make investments to speed up its digital transformation.

The prestigious BBC World Service, which reaches 365 million people worldwide every week and is a major instrument of British “soft power”, was particularly affected by the decision announced on Thursday.

Of the 1,000 job cuts across its 22,000-strong workforce, the BBC World Service will shed 382 jobs to save an estimated £28.5m a year (€31m).