BBC Current Affairs to cut 31 jobs

The BBC has today announced a restructure of its current affairs department aimed at keeping pace with the "fast changing media environment", resulting in the loss of 31 jobs.

In the latest round of cuts at the corporation, BBC Current Affairs will shed 31 posts in reporting, production and support based in London and Manchester.

The BBC insisted, though, that the department would "continue to offer high quality documentaries and high-impact investigative journalism".

The restructure is aimed at increasing flexibility by allowing programme makers to vary staff levels according to the peaks and troughs in the production cycle, using a mix of full-time employees and contractors.

According to the BBC, the new staff mix will still mean broadly the same number of people working on current affairs programming, but the use of short term contracts will increase the overall range of skills available to producers and cut costs.

The cuts at Current Affairs follow announcements of the loss of up to 360 posts at BBC Online and the planned reduction of BBC World Service headcount by around 650 posts.

Clive Edwards, commissioning editor of BBC TV current affairs, said: "For the brilliant staff in Current Affairs this is going to be a very tough time and I want to emphasise that the work they have been doing has been outstanding.

"We are committed to keeping on producing the very best programmes but to do that it’s crucial we implement this restructure. Because rates of production fluctuate it has become uneconomic to keep the current number of staff on full-time payroll and so the restructure will change our staffing mix.

"Although this has been a very hard decision to come to I am confident that it will mean we can continue to produce programmes of the very highest quality and impact."

The BBC remains the single biggest UK broadcaster of current affairs programming, with 139 hours of content planned for 2011/12 and around 300 hours of current affairs on radio.