The BBC has confirmed that 88 of the 426 jobs in its children's department will be eliminated as part of the corporation's downsizing, C21 MEDIA reports. The news follows the earlier announcement that 1,800 total jobs will be cut as part of the "Delivering Creative Futures" strategy. While a spokesman confirmed that the jobs would be cut over the next three years, it wasn't clear which sub-divisions would be most affected, as the BBC intends to first ask employees to take voluntary redundancy.
The news is a further blow to the troubled U.K. kids sector, which was also hit by a junk food ad ban and ITV leaving children's production.
Meanwhile, U.K. broadcast unions are meeting over whether to hold a strike-authorization vote. Members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), Bectu and Unite, representing over 10,000 BBC staff, have presented a series of demands to the corporation and stoppages could begin as soon as today. In addition to calling for a rescinding of the voluntary redundancy plan, unions are also concerned about the loss of "unpredictability allowances," which compensate for staff who aren't paid overtime, as well as plans to restrict pensions.
