New BBC boss calls for cap on payoffs

Tony Hall said he wanted “a BBC that is in tune with the times” and told the Culture, Media and Sport Committee the proposed cap, which he described as “a really important matter of principle”, would affect 250 people.

His predecessor, George Entwistle, took a £450,000 pay-off after 54 days in the top job and figures show ten other executives received severance packages in recent years amounting to £4m, with former deputy director-general Mark Byford being given £949,000.

The £150,000 cap would bring the BBC into line with the civil service.

The National Union of Journalists welcomed the announcement, with its general secretary, Michelle Stanistreet, criticising “obscene payments... being paid while other members of the BBC were being forced out of their jobs”.

The union is embroiled in an industrial dispute with the BBC over job losses and other issues and has warned of major cuts to programmes.

Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said the cap was “long overdue”, adding: “However, licence fee payers will still see a £150,000 pay-off as excessive.”

In a message to BBC staff, Lord Hall said past settlements could “no longer be justified”.

Lord Hall, who began as a BBC trainee 40 years ago, has recently appointed several key aides including former Times editor James Harding and former Labour Cabinet minister James Purnell.

He defended the appointment of former Mr Purnell as head of strategy, saying he was “an outstanding character”.

He said the former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, who stood down as an MP in 2010, had “hung his boots up at the door and left politics behind”.