BBC confirms pension deficit is £1.6bn

BBC director general Mark Thompson has announced that official figures put the BBC pension deficit at £1.6 billion, much less than the £2bn initially feared.

On Wednesday, Thompson told senior officials from BECTU and the National Union of Journalists that the true pension deficit level was confirmed by its latest triennial review.

Thompson also claimed that the pension black hole will be further cut to £1.1bn due to the controversial reforms agreed with the unions last year.

The director general said that the £500m saved by reducing the deficit would be reallocated for spending on programmes and services.

Despite the fact that £1.6bn is a large figure, it is considerably lower than the £2bn pension deficit that the BBC originally mooted to staff in 2009.

At the conclusion of protracted talks last December, the BBC confirmed that it would reopen talks with BECTU, the NUJ and Unite if the deficit was found to be less than £1.5bn. Due to this week's developments, those talks will now not take place.

BECTU general secretary Gerry Morrissey, who attended the briefing with the NUJ's Jeremy Dear, said: "We note the information provided; it does seem convenient that the official deficit level is just above the figure which would have triggered further talks, however we accept that the assumptions agreed by the BBC and the scheme trustees are in line with parameters recognised by other schemes and recognised actuarial practice."

The BBC also gave details of the recovery plan agreed with the pension trustees, which will see a sum of £900m repaid over a period of 11 years to clear the deficit.