Audit officials announce scrutiny probe into BBC managers’ pay-offs

The National Audit Office (NAO) will examine the situation after MPs said payments to senior BBC figures had been “excessively generous”.

The investigation was sparked after George Entwistle, the former director general, stood down over the Jimmy Savile scandal with a£450,000 – double the amount to which he was initially entitled .

The probe also comes after parliament’s Public Accounts Committee criticised the BBC’s use of money as “cavalier” and “out of line with public expectations”.

Committee chair, MP Margaret Hodge, hit out after hearing that 10 other leading BBC figures received severances in the past two years that totalled £4m. The largest – £949,000 – went to former deputy director general Mark Byford.

An NAO spokesman said the decision to look at BBC severance packages was taken in the light of Mr Entwistle’s departure. The NAO wrote to the BBC asking if it should specifically examine Mr Entwistle’s pay-off and report to the Public Accounts Committee before recent deliberations.

But the corporation asked it to investigate severance packages as part of the NAO’s wider 2013 programme of studies, as the NAO – which scrutinises public spending on behalf of parliament – does not have the power to carry out stand-alone “incident” studies.

A corporation spokesman said: “The BBC is in the process of reducing its senior management numbers, which have come down by around 25 per cent, and senior management pay bill, which has come down by around 30 per cent.

“Some of this has been achieved by redundancy.

“While these redundancies involve costs in the short-term, in the long-term they represent savings for the corporation as these roles are not replaced.”

A spokesman for the BBC Trust added: “Work will begin on this as soon as possible and we will, as always, ensure the NAO are given full access to all the information they require to carry out this review.”