The BBC has set a target for a quarter of its staff to come from lower socio-economic backgrounds by 2027.
As detailed in the corporation’s Annual Plan, the goal is for 25% of the workforce to meet working class criteria, which is based on the primary household earner’s occupation held when an individual was 14.
Figures published last year showed that 20% of staff fit this criterion, and that 44% went to a state school and less than 8% had free school meals.
The new target is an extension of BBC director-general Tim Davie’s established 50:20:12 inclusion targets, which commit the corporation to achieve gender parity, a 20% BAME workforce and 12% disabled staff by 2025.
The plan states that he BBC is “one of the first media organisations in the UK to set a target for socioeconomic diversity”.
The Annual Plan also pledges “more stories that reflect young audiences’ communities” on BBC3 in the mould of The Fast and Farmer-ish and the upcoming doc series Brickies, plus a new children’s drama, Phoenix Rise, set in a West Midlands school.
It will publish a longer-term strategy, including measures to deliver savings of £285m a year by 2027/28, in May.
