The BBC is to cut the jobs of nearly one in five of its senior managers and freeze the pay of its executive board.

Sir Michael Lyons, Chairman of the BBC Trust, announced that 18 per cent of its senior managers — about 115 staff — would be dispensed with by July 2013 and new senior staff paid far less than they could expect in the commercial sector.

The move, seen as an attempt to demonstrate prudence with public money to a future Conservative government, will entail bonuses for top staff being suspended indefinitely. The BBC wants to reduce its £79 million executive wage bill by £20 million. Executive directors and members of the BBC direction group will have their remuneration frozen until 2013, that of remaining senior managers being frozen until at least August 2011, the corporation said. It has not ruled out redundancies.

Mark Thompson, the Director-General, said: “We are in a different economic climate; media sector labour markets are depressed and there are pressures on public finances.”

Jeremy Hunt, the Shadow Culture Secretary, said: “If the BBC is able to cut over 100 of its senior executives, it needs to ask how it allowed itself to get so bloated in the first place.”

A BBC source said: “For every senior manager job that comes up there will have to be a really strong case for us to appoint one. Instead we will be asking people to work two jobs.”

The changes come after Sir Michael asked Mr Thompson to carry out a review of executive remuneration at the corporation. The report, published yesterday, shows that the director-general earns 17.5 times the average of a BBC staff member.

It added that some salaries in the corporation had slipped above their private sector counterparts. “This review has identified a few areas where internal relativities and the desire to ensure that senior pay is broadly comparable in different parts of the organisation has lead to pay rising above the median of the specific labour market involved.”

In future, appointees to the BBC’s executive board will be expected to earn between 20 per cent and 50 per cent of comparable commercial competitors, with the next rung of senior managers expected to take a pay cut of 30 to 50 per cent.

Sir Michael Lyons said: “"Of course I realise this will have implications both for current and future BBC employees. However, it is right that as a major public service organisation, the BBC shows leadership on this issue during difficult economic times."

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