The BBC has been criticised for spending more than £3.6m on BUPA private health insurance since 2010.
The figure, released in response to a Freedom of Information request, means that senior managers are receiving insurance packages worth £2,000 a year, entitling them to world-class healthcare beyond the reach of most TV licence fee payers.
Jonathan Isaby, Chief Executive of The Taxpayers' Alliance, told the Express: "The BBC was right to abolish further private healthcare schemes, but the legacy continues to cost Licence Fee payers an extraordinary amount.
"These are exactly the kind of generous perks seen all too often in publicly-funded organisations, and they must be eliminated across the board.
"Every penny raised by the TV Tax needs to go into high-quality programming, as constant revelations of extremely high pay and wasteful spending at the BBC sees sympathy for the Licence Fee wane even further."
A spokesman for the BBC said: "The BBC stopped private medical insurance for new senior managers four years ago.
"Since 2010, as contractual entitlements lapse, the number receiving it has fallen by a third. We've also reduced senior management by a third, saving £27m."
2 comments:
The pressure's ramping up on the BBC - even our cousins across the pond are getting in on the act:
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/world/bbc-risk-uk-weighs-tv-license-fee
As the article says:
'Imagine a country where you have to be licensed to watch TV — and could be fined and even jailed for watching while unlicensed. Sounds Orwellian.'
Quite. I'm sure Big Brother would loved to have run the TV Licence system - all that data, 'handheld devices' etc. In fact didn't a certain TVL publicity campaign involve people being hunted by ravening dogs and swooping helicopters?
Not one to defend the BBC in any form, but health insurance for foreign correspondents is fine and BUPA International is quite good value in this regard, but for UK resident BBC staff who push the NHS propaganda at every turn? No.
If the NHS is so great it should be compulsory for those who accept the taxpayers / licence payers shilling. Only fair surely?
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