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W Collier
Via email
: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx 22 April 2020
Dear W Collier,
Freedom of Information request – RFI20200344
Thank you for your request to the BBC of 2nd March 2020 seeking the following information under the
Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000:
I would like to know how many Grievances and Grievance Appeals brought by members of staff have
been upheld against staff in the bands SM1 and SM2 or their equivalent grades in the new Terms
and Conditions structure - that is SL (Senior Leaders). I would like this request to cover the last 2
years. I would like to know how many were not upheld in the same time frame.
I have vastly reduced the scope and depth of this request to fit in with your parameters for actioning.
This request started at 10 years and was reduced to 5 year. I have now reduced it to two years. Given
the number of senior managers in the BBC, I would expect the corporation to be able to meet the
parameters of this request.
We have understood your request to pertain to grievance and grievance appeals raised under the
BBC Anti Bullying and Harassment Policy. Policies for both can be found at the following links;
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/foi/classes/policies_procedures/bullying_harassment_policy.pdf
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/foi/classes/policies_procedures/bbc_appeals_policy.pdf
Given that your request requires the grade of the named respondent we have provided information
based on grievance and grievance appeals in the financial years of 2017/18 and 2018/2019 as published
in the following location (p86)
https://downloads.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/reports/annualreport/2018-19.pdf
Furthermore we understand your request to be specifically relating to SL band or equivalent (SM1/2)
employees.
In response to your request please see the tables below showing the answers to your request. Table 1
shows the number of grievances upheld and not upheld against SL band or equivalent (SM1/2)
employees. Table 2 shows the number of grievance appeals upheld and not upheld against SL band or
equivalent (SM1/2) employees.
Table 1: Grievances
Grievance Against BBC Senior Leader
Year
Upheld
Partially Upheld
Not Upheld
2017/18
0
0
7
2018/19
0
3
11
Table 2: Grievance Appeals
Grievance Appeal Against BBC Senior Leader
Year
Upheld
Partially Upheld
Not Upheld
2017/18
0
0
2
2018/19
1
1
4
As set out in section 6(1)(b)(ii) of the Act, our subsidiaries (including BBC Studioworks Limited,
UKTV, BBC Global News Ltd and BBC Studios Ltd), as well as the charities BBC Media Action and
BBC Children in Need, are not subject to the Act. As such, information relating to these entities is
not considered in the above response.
Appeal Rights
If you are not satisfied that we have complied with the Act in responding to your request, 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. A
request for an internal review must be made within 40 working days of receiving the BBC’s response
to your original request.
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, Tel: 0303 123 1113 or see
https://ico.org.uk/. Yours sincerely,
BBC HR
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