BBC to outline cost-cutting 'options'

BBC executives are expected to outline what its options are to fill its £2 billion spending gap caused by the lower-than-expected licence fee settlement.

Reports suggest that the BBC's director general, Mark Thompson, will present the BBC Trust with a "menu of options" on how to fill the gap, with the level of redundancies likely to be high.

BBC News is believed to one of the departments to be hit the worst, with staff asked to work across several platforms to cut costs. Back-office staff and marketing will be less badly affected this time. Both departments were hit hard in the last round of BBC job cuts which ran to around 7,000.

The BBC are likely to look to reassess the priorities in each department across the corporation, with more spent on big-budget, multi-platform projects in order to reduce costs.

BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons will consider the options over the summer, but staff are likely to have to wait until September to know the extent of the changes.