BBC Boss Received £800,000 In Final Year

As the BBC is criticised for its pay-offs, it emerges that a former boss who lasted just two months in the job, received £800,000.

George Entwistle, the former BBC director-general who lasted just two months in the post, was paid hundreds of thousands in his final year at the corporation. Figures show that his salary, compensation pay-off and the costs for his legal fees came to £802,000 - the cost of more than 5,500 TV licences. News of Mr Entwistle's remuneration comes after a National Audit Office (NAO) review found that the BBC's overly-generous pay-offs "put public trust at risk" and breached its own guidelines. The BBC chief was forced to stand down because of his handling of the Jimmy Savile crisis and fallout from false claims on Newsnight about Lord McAlpine. He was criticised by some for the way he handled the scandal and accused of failing to reassure the public. Mr Entwistle received £450,000 severance when he resigned, £20,000 for legal fees, private medical insurance and PR support. And he also collected £217,000 in salary. The £802,000 also includes £107,000 related to his appearance as a witness before the Pollard Review, which looked into the shelved Newsnight investigation into Savile.

Other pay-offs revealed by the BBC today include £860,000 to former chief operating officer Caroline Thomson, who left the corporation in September. She received £331,400 in redundancy pay, £335,000 pay in lieu of notice and £6,800 for legal fees. She also had £168,000 paid to her during her last six months in the job. The NAO today said such payments had given taxpayers "poor value for money". It found that £25 million in total had been paid to 150 senior staff in the three years leading up to December last year. In a quarter of cases, the BBC had paid out more than staff were entitled to. "The BBC has breached its own policies on severance too often without good reason," said the NAO report. "This has resulted in payments that have not served the best interests of licence fee-payers. "Weak governance arrangements have led to payments that exceeded contractual entitlements and put public trust at risk. "The severance payments for senior BBC managers have, therefore, provided poor value for money for licence fee payers." The BBC Trust, which looks after the interests of licence fee payers, called the NAO report "deeply worrying", while new director-general Tony Hall admitted the corporation had "lost its way on payments in recent years". Mr Hall has already announced plans to cap future payments at £150,000. "The BBC's proposal to cap redundancy payments, announced in 2013 by the new director-general, is a signal of change for the better," said NAO head Amyas Morse.