Spencer Count via e-mail
[FOI #96374 email]
19 January 2012
Dear Mr Count
Freedom of Information Request - RFI20111519 Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) received on 8
December 2011, as a follow up to
RFI20111363, seeking the following information:
“Can you please elaborate on what these allowances are and to whom they are paid, in terms of BBC
grades:
Supplementary Contract
Supplementary Pay Production
Special Allowance
Special Allowance 1
Special Allowance 3
Special Fixed Salary Allowance
Protected Continuing Allowance
And additionally, please say how much the Corporation pays out in each of these allowances annually.”
Please find below definitions for each of the allowances requested. Please note that these allowances are
paid to a cross-section of staff and usually relate to the nature of the role rather than to specific grades.
Supplementary Contract and Supplementary Pay Production Allowances
These are supplementary payments, typically made in areas where staff work on production-specific
contracts eg for the hire of kit/equipment, provision of materials etc
Special Allowances (including 1 and 3)
These are individual allowances/payments which are not allocated to any of the other categories of
allowances previously disclosed. As these are arranged locally and/or on an individual basis, we would need
to look through the personnel file of each individual who has received such a payment in order to check for
any relevant information relating to the specific reasons for allowances paid under this heading. We
anticipate that it would take BBC staff more than two and a half days to carry out this search. Under
section 12 of the Act, we are allowed to refuse to handle the request if it would exceed the appropriate
limit. The appropriate limit has been set by the Regulations (SI 2004/3244) as being £450 (equivalent to
two and a half days work, at an hourly rate of £25).
Special Fixed Salary (SFS) Allowance
This is an allowance paid to staff engaged on Special Fixed Salary (SFS) contractual terms.
An SFS is a buyout arrangement whereby some or all elements of pay (eg basic salary, unpredictability
allowance/flexibility payments, overtime, additional days or hours payments etc) are incorporated into an
all-inclusive salary. Typically some of this SFS salary is pensionable and some paid as a non-pensionable
allowance, known as a Special Fixed Salary (SFS) Allowance.
Protected Continuing Allowances
Under
Pay in the 90s (an initiative resulting in changes to pay and terms and conditions of employment) the
BBC ceased to pay shift allowances for patterns of duty which involved unsocial hours (eg weekends, early
mornings, etc), but which operated according to fixed rotas. The only work patterns to attract continuing
allowances were those that met one of two definitions of unpredictable working. Existing staff who lost pay
as a result had the cash amount of the loss preserved on a personal basis as a Protected Continuing
Allowance (PCA), for as long as they stayed in their current job. An individual’s PCA would then increase in
line with general pay reviews. The BBC continues to pay PCA to staff who still qualify for it on the above
basis.
The BBC’s Corporate Framework on Conditions of Service can be found on the publication scheme at the
following address:
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/foi/classes/policies_procedures/corporate_framework_conditions_service.pdf
Please find below the total paid out for each of these allowances during the last calendar year January to
December 2011:
Total Paid
Allowance Type
in 2011 (£)
Supplementary Contract
124,391
Supplementary Pay
Production 27,501
Special Allowance
977,215
Special Allowance 1
139,244
Special Allowance 3
13,145
SFS (Special Fixed Salary)
Allowance 215,342
Protected Continuing
Allowance 18,664
Please note, as our subsidiaries (BBC Studios & Post Production Ltd, UKTV, BBC World News Ltd, BBC
Worldwide Ltd, World Service Trust and BBC Children in Need) are not subject to the Act – under
section 6(1) (b)(ii) – the information for their personnel is not included in the figures quoted above.
Appeal Rights
If you are not satisfied with this response you have the right to an internal review by a BBC senior manager
or legal adviser. Please contact us at the address above, explaining what you would like us to review and
including your reference number. If you are not satisfied with the internal review, you can appeal to the
Information Commissioner. The contact details are: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, telephone 01625 545 700 or see http://www.ico.gov.uk/
Yours sincerely
Karen Wood
BBC People
