The BBC has made more than £1bn of savings in the past five years, amid record profits for BBC Studios and the axing of more than 400 public service roles axed in the past 12 months.
The corporation saved £274m in 2021/2022, slightly up on the previous year’s £272m, taking it past £1bn since 2016/2017.
Public service roles now stands at 17,781 and the number of senior managers fell marginally from 241 to 234, with further cuts to come.
BBC Studios’ profit hit a record £226m – a 50% year-on-year growth – with revenues up by 30% to £1.6bn, well above the £1.2bn five-year target.
Total content spend was up 17% to £2.95bn, of which £1.8bn came from TV, with events such as the delayed Olympics and European Football Championship contributing.
Drama recovered from a pandemic-induced 20% drop to £289m last year, with a 30% increase to £376m.
Total BBC income rose from £5bn to £5.3bn, with licence fee revenues broadly flat at £3.8bn.
The BBC’s Annual Report and Accounts also outlined some progress in hitting its 50:20:12 diversity targets. Its workforce is now 49.5% women and 16.4% black and minority ethnic.
The figure for disabled staff is 9.3%, below the 9.7% target set for March 2022. Among senior leaders, it has fallen over two years from 8.6% to 7.9%, shy of the 8.4% target.
