London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Aug 10, 2025

Three-quarters of BBC Newsbeat staff decline to relocate to Birmingham

Three-quarters of BBC Newsbeat staff decline to relocate to Birmingham

Vast majority of youth news service’s 40 employees indicate they will not move to new base in Midlands
The vast majority of London-based staff at Radio 1’s Newsbeat service have declined to relocate to a new base in Birmingham, as the BBC faces the challenge of rebuilding entire teams from scratch.

In the latest example of the broadcaster’s difficult and lengthy restructuring process, three-quarters of Newsbeat’s approximately 40 staff have indicated they do not want to move outside the capital, according to sources in the corporation.

The relocation is part of an enormous restructuring of BBC News, prompted by a combination of cuts caused by government-imposed reductions to the licence fee, a political desire to move staff out of London, and a rethink of how the newsroom should operate.

One employee at Newsbeat, which is tasked with attracting younger audiences to the BBC’s news output, said they feared losing influence over top news executives who will remain in London.

They said: “Managers are yet to give a single example of how moving its dedicated youth newsroom 100 miles away – without any other news department – will help the British public better understand issues relating to drugs, housing, mental health and cultural appropriation. If they don’t listen now, they won’t listen then.”

One of the issues for BBC staff leaving the capital is that they will lose the London-weighting on their salaries, in effect requiring them to accept a pay cut. Others are fearful of leaving London because of fewer alternative media career options outside the capital and concerns that losing their place in the city’s overheating housing market would mean they could never return.

The BBC World Service’s business news output is also facing losing almost all its staff after most declined to relocate to Salford.

In both cases, the reluctance of London-based staff to move – an issue also faced by Channel 4 with its transferring of some roles to Leeds – could provide opportunities for local recruits. When the Newsbeat relocation was first announced this year, the Guardian reported that one member of staff had said: “Good luck trying to get young, exciting journalists to move to Digbeth.”

In response, the West Midlands mayor, Andy Street, said: “I understand some in London have tough decisions to make following the BBC’s announcement, but I won’t accept the sneering at our wonderful region. If you don’t want to come, don’t. We have incredible young and diverse talent that will be all too happy to take your place.”

The issue has come to a head at the end of a long-running and tortuous “preference” exercise. In a process described by one BBC employee as “like a university application form that’s left people stuck in clearing”, almost all the BBC’s news staff have been asked to essentially reapply for their positions by listing their three preferred jobs.

Although this was designed to ease the restructuring process, it has had the side-effect of highlighting where groups of staff are deeply unhappy, with some managers becoming aware almost all of their teams wanted to move to new jobs.

Some staff who failed to get their preferred options say they are being offered roles that are unsuitable. Young employees hired for their digital experience have been offered jobs writing radio news bulletins, while people with no experience of making television have been placed on TV shows. There have also been issues with integrating some of the BBC’s disability access schemes.

Listeners and viewers will soon start noticing the changes, with many established on-air names having already taken retirement and others preparing to go. The longtime BBC technology correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones, is among those who have chosen to leave rather than relocate with his team to its new base in Glasgow.

As part of the overall changes there will be a significant reduction in the number of journalists who work exclusively for specific BBC broadcast programmes, with the same news stories instead likely to appear across multiple outlets and shows throughout the day.

The BBC said retraining would be available for staff working in new formats and a majority of staff would be doing roles for which they expressed a preference.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Street justice isn’t pretty but how else do you deal with this kind of insanity? Sometimes someone needs to standup and say something
Armenia and Azerbaijan sign U.S.-brokered accord at White House outlining transit link via southern Armenia
Barcelona Resolves Captaincy Issue with Marc-André ter Stegen
US Justice Department Seeks Release of Epstein and Maxwell Grand Jury Exhibits Amid Legal and Victim Challenges
Trump Urges Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to Resign Over Alleged Chinese Business Ties
Scotland’s First Minister Meets Trump Amid Visit Highlighting Whisky Tariffs, Gaza Crisis and Heritage Links
Trump Administration Increases Reward for Arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro to Fifty Million Dollars
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Embarrassment in Britain: Homelessness Minister Evicted Tenants and Forced to Resign
President Trump nominated Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser and a critic of the Federal Reserve, to temporarily fill an open Fed seat
The AI-Powered Education Revolution: Market Potential and Transformative Impact
Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Southern China: Over 7,000 Hospitalized
French wine makers have seen catastrophic damage to vines that were almost ready to be harvested after the worst fires in more than 70 years burned through the south of the country
US Lawmaker Probes Intel CEO’s China Ties Amid National Security Concerns
Brazilian President Lula says he’ll contact the leaders of BRICS states to propose a unified response to U.S. tariffs
Trump Open to Meeting Putin as Soon as Next Week, with Possible Trilateral Summit Including Zelenskiy
Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau spark dating rumors, joining high stakes world of celeb-politician romances
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war ahead of President Trump’s peace deadline
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Karol Nawrocki Inaugurated as Poland’s President, Setting Stage for Clash with Tusk Government
Trump Signals JD Vance as ‘Most Likely’ MAGA Successor for 2028
US Charges Two Chinese Nationals for Illegal Nvidia AI Chip Exports
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
U.S. Tariff Policy Triggers Market Volatility Amid Growing Global Trade Tensions
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
Representative Greene Urges H-1B Visa Cuts Amid U.S.-India Trade Tensions
U.S. House Committee Subpoenas Clintons and Senior Officials in Epstein Investigation
Sydney Sweeney Registered as Republican as Controversial American Eagle Ad Sparks Debate
Trump Accuses Major Banks of Politically Motivated Account Denials and Prepares Executive Order
TikTok Removes Huda Kattan Video Over Anti-Israel Conspiracy Claims
Trump Threatens Tariffs on India Over Russian Oil Imports
German Finance Minister Criticizes Trump’s Attacks on Institutions
U.S. Proposes Visa Bond of Up to $15,000 for Some Applicants
U.S. Farmers Increase Lobbying Amid Immigration Crackdown
Elon Musk Receives $23.7 Billion Tesla Stock Award
Texas House Paralyzed After Democrats Walk Out Over Redistricting
Mexican Cartels Complicate Sheinbaum’s U.S. Security Talks
Mark Zuckerberg Declares War on the iPhone
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
×