The BBC will cut around 450 jobs as part of a bid to save tens of millions of pounds.

Fran Unsworth, director of news and current affairs, said the corporation needed to cover fewer news stories and there would be a shift in focus towards digital from traditional linear broadcasting.

Rather than journalists assigned to specific teams, there will be a pool of journalists who work on stories for all outlets.

Image: Victoria Derbyshire found out her show was being axed in a newspaper

The BBC newsroom will focus on stories more than on programmes or platforms to "reduce duplication".

It comes as BBC News attempts to save £80m to cope with ongoing financial pressures, like paying for the licence fee for over-75s on pension credit.


Just over £40m - around half - of the savings required have already been found over the past four years.

Under the new plan which was unveiled to staff on Wednesday afternoon:

A total of around 450 job losses will be axed

There will be a reduction in the number of films made by Newsnight, resulting in job cuts

A review is planned into the number of presenters at BBC News

There will be job cuts at Radio 5 Live and the World Update programme on the World Service

Ms Unsworth said: "We need to reshape BBC News for the next decade in a way which saves substantial amounts of money. We are spending too much of our resources on traditional linear broadcasting and not enough on digital.

"Our duty as a publicly funded broadcaster is to inform, educate, and entertain every citizen. But there are many people in this country that we are not serving well enough."

The changes will mean more journalists will be based outside London, and there will be more investment in the BBC news app, to make it more "intuitive" and with "increased personalisation".

Image: Lord Tony Hall is stepping down as director-general of the BBC after seven years

Plans to axe the Victoria Derbyshire show were leaked prior to the announcement, with the presenter saying she was "devastated". A petition to save it has garnered tens of thousands of supporters.

Ms Unsworth said the decision to cut Derbyshire's show was "not an easy" one but said the show was "no longer cost-effective".

Derbyshire, 51, said she found out about the plans in a newspaper.

She wrote on Twitter: "we were NEVER asked to grow the linear Tv audience. Ever. We were asked to grow our digital audience - we did - our digi figures are huge (our successful digital figures appear to be an inconvenience to those

making the decisions)."

She added: "Our remit when we were set up: 1. Original journalism 2. Reaching underserved audiences 3. Growing the digital figures We achieved all 3."

Lord Hall, the BBC director-general, announced last week he would step down in the summer.

In comments from a media event published in the Daily Telegraph, he said the BBC had contributed to a toxic discourse through political journalism which he said was aimed at trying to "catch out" politicians.

He added that he was a "great believer in the long-form interview where you can explore at length".

Image: The BBC paid radio presenter Sarah Montague a £400,000 settlement

The corporation has been caught up in pay dispute scandals of late too, and had to pay radio presenter Sarah Montague a £400,000 settlement.

Samira Ahmed also won an employment tribunal over equal pay.

The National Union of Journalists general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said the cuts were "damaging".

She said: "These damaging cuts are part of an existential threat to the BBC and a direct consequence of the last disastrous, secret licence fee deal the BBC agreed with the government. This is before the impact of taking over responsibility for the over-75s licences kicks in.

"Against this backdrop, the BBC's very existence is being threatened with public service broadcasting under unprecedented threat.

"If the government goes ahead and decriminalises non-payment of the licence fee, we know the impact will be further losses for the BBC of around £200 million a year and increased collection costs of £45 million."

She said it was a "politically-motivated" move.

Earlier, Prime Minister Boris Johnson denied the Conservative Party and BBC were mortal enemies, and said it was a "cherished institution".