I'm not moving up North, says BBC HR boss: £190,000-a-year executive quits as he joins growing number of BBC 'refuseniks' who want to stay in South

By Ian Gallagher




The BBC was plunged into fresh turmoil last night after a top executive hired to persuade 1,500 staff to move from London to Manchester suddenly quit his job – because he doesn’t want to live there himself.

Paul Gaskin, the £190,000-a-year human resources director for BBC North, had been with the Corporation for less than two months.

His departure has astonished colleagues, who say he left without explanation and had been contractually obliged to make the 200-mile move to the new Salford Quays base.

Speaking at his Hertfordshire home, Mr Gaskin, 47, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I did not want to move to Manchester and so decided to leave. It is as simple as that.’

The BBC added that ‘unforeseen family circumstances’ prompted the apparent change of heart, although neither it nor Mr Gaskin would elaborate.

However, Mr Gaskin, who was based at Television Centre in White City, West London, conceded that his decision and its timing were acutely embarrassing for the BBC. Laughing, he admitted: ‘Yes, yes, I know.’

The controversial £877 million relocation – aimed at making the BBC less ‘London-centric’ and more diverse, but dismissed as a scandalous waste of public money by critics – has been beset by problems from the start.

Many household names, among them BBC Breakfast presenter Sian Williams, have threatened to resign because they are unable or unwilling to make the move. The same goes for hundreds of rank-and-file staff.

At the same time, senior executives have been accused of hypocrisy for not relocating their own families.

Earlier this year, there was concern that BBC North director Peter Salmon was not sending the right message to staff when he admitted that he will rent a flat at licence-fee payers’ expense near Salford.


BBC North director Peter Salmon with actress wife Sarah Lancashire, will rent a flat in Manchester while she stays in the South East

Mr Salmon, a window cleaner’s son from Burnley, is married to former Coronation Street actress Sarah Lancashire.

The official reason for Mr Salmon not relocating his family is that he and his wife do not want their children’s education to be disrupted.

But although much was made of her husband’s northern connections when he was first appointed, Miss Lancashire has reportedly told friends that she does not want to go back and intends to remain in the South East.

In addition, Richard Deverell, chief operating officer for the new base, has yet to decide whether he will make a clean break.

Among those being forced to move to ‘Media City’ in Salford – dubbed the Canary Wharf of the North because of its planned gleaming landscape of glass skyscrapers, hotels, shops and piazzas – are the BBC’s children’s department, Radio 5 Live, parts of its new media arm and BBC Breakfast.

Mr Gaskin’s decision to leave rather than relocate is the biggest blow so far to the BBC’s ambitions. A source said: ‘There are real worries the BBC move north is facing problems. It doesn’t make sense for him [Mr Gaskin] to quit such a big job in the middle of such a prestigious project.’

Mr Gaskin, who is married with children and lives in Stevenage, left the BBC at the end of July.

He had joined the Corporation from the giant outsourcing company Serco and was ‘responsible for the overall HR direction and leadership to meet the medium to long-term strategic objectives for BBC North’.


Other responsibilities included ‘training and development, recruitment, reward, diversity, employment, policy and organisation design’.

He was one of three new recruits whose appointments caused controversy because their pay packets were vastly in excess of the Prime Minister’s salary. At the time, the BBC was accused of making a mockery of public sector spending.

Mr Gaskin’s total remuneration package was worth £197,900 while David Cameron gets £142,500.

Jeremy Hunt, the new Conservative Culture Secretary, has previously said that the Corporation should not pay any of its executives more than the Prime Minister, but Ministers accept that because of the BBC’s independence, they cannot force it to act on pay.

To cajole staff to move, Mr Gaskin and his team used the offer of expenses of up to £1,900 a month to cover rent, bills and a weekly return to the South for up to two years.

And there have also been reports that some staff were taken on ‘all expenses paid’ trips to Manchester last year.

This involved being shown around the city over two days, a stay in a hotel and £50-a-head meal with their partners.

‘Even people who had already decided they wouldn’t be making the move to Manchester went on these tours because it meant two days off work,’ said a BBC source.


Former Labour Cabinet Minister Hazel Blears, MP for Salford and Eccles, was one of the most prominent supporters of the move, believing it would bring jobs and regeneration to Greater Manchester.

However, Chris Hollins, a sports presenter on BBC Breakfast and last year’s Strictly Come Dancing winner, said the move was simply a ‘political decision’ – not an economic or editorial one.

The BBC, which will begin broadcasting from Salford in less than six months, also faces criticism for its decision to relocate sports staff before the Olympics.

It is paying £3 million to send them back to London to cover the Games less than 12 months after the move. Licence-fee payers will foot the bill for the flights, train fares, taxis and accommodation for up to 500 employees making the 400-mile round trip.

The estimate, based on the figure spent sending 437 staff to last year’s Beijing Games, will include paying for workers in sport, children, Radio 5 Live, learning and technology departments to stay in London for the two-week event.

In a statement to staff, the BBC’s director of people, Lucy Adams, said of Mr Gaskin’s departure: ‘It is with regret that I have to let you know that Paul Gaskin has made the very difficult decision to leave the BBC at the end of this month.

‘Unforeseen family circumstances mean Paul is now unable to relocate to Salford and he felt it would be unfair to continue in his role knowing that he could not commit to being part of the future North team.

Ken Lee will be heading up the North HR team on Paul’s departure.’

The BBC’s director of television, Jana Bennett, has promised a new wave of regional accents across its networks.

She said she wanted to better reflect ‘the nations and communities’ of Britain and as part of this the BBC will increase ‘distinctive voices’ which have an ‘authentic sense of place’.

From "The Mail On Sunday"

By Ian Gallagher.

Source:-
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305133/Im-moving-North-says-BBC-HR-boss...

Richard Deverell confirms Salford move

BBC North's chief operating officer has confirmed that he will be moving to Salford as relocation creates tension among BBC staff


The BBC North chief operating officer, Richard Deverell, confirmed yesterday that he would be moving to Salford, saving his boss, Mark Thompson, embarrassment over his public commitment that key executives were set on the move.

"I will probably rent in the short term and probably buy in the long term. I will do whatever it takes to get the job done," Deverell said.

"Large chunks" of his time would be spent in the north from next May to the end of that year, he added, as around 2,500 staff positions are relocated to the new Salford Quays base. "There will be an eight-month transition," said Deverell.

Like the head of BBC North, Peter Salmon, Deverell's family will move when the academic year allows. But he scotched rumours rife at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh international television festival that such a senior executive would not be moving after all.

"My job is in Salford. I don't want to live apart from my family for longer than six months," he said. Salford, added Deverell, was "the biggest and most exciting thing happening in the BBC".

However, the relocation issue has become a source of tension among BBC staff. Comments on mediaguardian.co.uk stories about senior managers not moving north permanently at the same time as the other BBC staff suggest fury that there is one rule for senior executives and one for the rest of staff.

This was categorically denied by Deverell: "Despite the mythology that has grown up in the press, nobody is getting preferential treatment ... every single person faces the same choice the same package. There are no special deals."

He said that all staff had the "same relocation package". Those who cannot move immediately will be given the option of the BBC paying rent on a property in Salford for a maximum of two years at a maximum of £1,900 a month to allow them to commute back to London at weekends.

However, if they choose this option they will not be able to qualify for any other relocation package.

The second package on offer involves the BBC paying 85% of the value of the home of people who want to move to Salford.

If the BBC's relocation consultants sell the property for more than 85% of its value, staff will be given the excess. But if it sells for less, the BBC will shoulder the burden. The BBC will also keep any excess if the property sells for more than its market value.

The other package available is for staff to choose to sell their own homes and they will be given a taxable allowance of 10% of their salary.

Thompson appeared to step further into controversy over the move on Saturday when he called the controversy over whether or not senior BBC North executives were actually moving north "not quite a non issue".

In contrast, staff forums have been full of fury over the perceived different set of rules for management compared to staff.

One BBC insider told mediaguardian.co.uk that, unlike well-paid senior executives, most staff could not afford to rent and commute to Salford, explaining: "The rank and file have been told to move or face redundancy and they can't afford to run two homes."

By- Jane Martinson and TaraConlan.

Source:-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/aug/30/richard-deverell-salford