BBC employees were paid over £228 million to work unsociable and unpredictable hours in 2014.
Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show that thousands of BBC employees take home an average of almost £4,000 on top of their basic salaries as a reward for working irregular hours.
Some 7,941 BBC employees claimed £31.2 million of ’unpredictability allowances’ in an average year, which means that they each took home around £3,929.
Staff are able to claim flexibility or unpredictability allowance from the BBC if they are asked to work unsocial hours, including weekends and early mornings, often at very short notice.
A BBC spokesman said: “It is impossible to broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week without employing people to work through the nights.
“Like most organisations, we reflect this in our pay structure, however, we are always looking to make savings and unpredictability allowance has come down by £4million since 2010.
“Almost 1,000 fewer staff claimed this allowance in 2014 than in 2009.”
Most BBC people I know who are programme makers work many more hours than is reasonable, irrespective of whether they are unsociable hours. To call an unpredictability allowance a ‘reward’ is misleading.