Caroline Thomson, the BBC’s chief operating officer, outlined the management consolidation in a speech to staff yesterday, claiming it will "tackle the complexity in and around the BBC and create simpler decision-making".
The move will result in the BBC shifting its top tier from a maximum of nine layers of decision-makers down to seven.
It comes as part of an ongoing cost-savings initiative designed to generate £1.3billion over four years from 2013 to pay for additional commitments, such as funding the World Service and S4C, which the BBC took on as part of the licence fee settlement.
A statement by Thompson today stressed "the BBC’s mission remains the same - to inform, educate and entertain through programmes and services of high quality, originality and value".
She said: "To tackle the complexity that so often frustrates people working in and around the BBC and create simpler decision making – we will move to a maximum of seven organisation layers. That means a maximum of seven layers including the DG and the most junior staff."
The changes to BBC management comes just six weeks before BBC opens its Salford office, which will bring Sport, Radio 5 Live and its Children’s programming together.
The chief operating officer also confirmed that BBC will reduce its property usage by at least 25% by cutting down on the number of buildings it uses in west and central London, including White City.
She called the change "common sense decisions" and added that this is about "finding better ways of working which will prepare us for a connected future".
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