BBC uses licence fee cash to 'gag its staff': Broadcaster accused of 'corporate bullying' in bid to buy the silence of alleged sexual harassment victims



Up to 20 former staff made to sign contracts to stop them whistleblowing

They thought they could not give evidence to inquiry because of clauses



BBC insists no one is barred from giving evidence, despite agreements

Countryfile's Miriam O'Reilly said use of gagging clauses is 'insidious'

The BBC was accused of 'corporate bullying' last night after spending licence-payers' cash to buy the silence of up to 20 alleged harassment victims.

The gagging orders threaten to make a mockery of an inquiry set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal to uncover the depths of sexual harassment at the corporation.

Up to 20 former staff – all of whom claim to have been victims of bullying or sexual harassment – believed they had effectively been banned from giving evidence to the internal review.

Redundancy discussions: Newsnight reporter Liz MacKean is one person the BBC is said to have tried to silence during discussions over voluntary redundancy

Each had been paid off and made to sign contracts to stop them turning whistleblower.

The absurd situation could mean licence-payers funding an expensive inquiry on the one hand, only for potential witnesses to think they cannot give evidence.

Refusal: Miriam O'Reilly took the BBC to a tribunal

The inquiry, overseen by human rights lawyer Dinah Rose QC, is expected to report next month.

In another twist, a lawyer last night claimed a further 'two dozen' BBC women – some of them famous names – have come forward in the past week complaining of sexual discrimination, bullying or harassment.

Ann Olivarius, said there was 'a culture full of male bias at the BBC'. Following a talk she gave to 150 women in the arts, two dozen 'talked about sexual discrimination and about bullying and inappropriate sexual advances'.

The Rose review was launched in October following a wave of damaging claims from female presenters including Liz Kershaw and Sandi Toksvig, who said they were routinely groped while working for the BBC.

Gagging clauses are typically part of 'compromise agreements' signed when an employee agrees to drop an employment tribunal claim in return for a pay-off.

Around 20 of the 850 people who came forward to the inquiry at first believed they were unable to speak because they had signed gagging agreements. It is understood that, following negotiations, their evidence was eventually allowed to go forward.

The BBC insists no one has been barred from giving evidence, despite any previous agreements which may have been signed.

One person the BBC is said to have tried to silence is believed to be Liz MacKean, the Newsnight reporter whose Savile investigation was shelved in 2011.

A gagging agreement was suggested during discussions over voluntary redundancy, it is understood.

Yesterday Miss MacKean said she had not and would not sign any such clause, but declined to comment further.

The use of gagging clauses by the BBC to hush up potentially embarrassing sex and bullying claims has become 'insidious', according to Miriam O'Reilly, the Countryfile presenter who won an ageism employment tribunal.

The BBC are accused of using taxpayers' money to gag female members of staff who made complaints about sexual harassment and bullying

Miss O'Reilly, who refused to sign a gagging order when she left the BBC, said: 'It's corporate bullying of the worst kind.

'I am hoping the new director-general sorts this out, this nasty subversive underbelly.'

A BBC spokesman said: 'No staff past or present have been prevented from contributing to the review, including those who have signed compromise agreements ... When approached by individuals who had signed a compromise agreement, the BBC has made it clear we welcomed their input to this review.'

One of the women said her gag was still active even though she left over 10 years after witnessing bullying.

'I would physically shield my staff from the shouting and intimidation,' she told the Sunday Times.



'When I followed the proper procedures to say staff were being bullied, the BBC ended my contract and the bully was allowed to continue to work there for a number of years.'

Another woman told of how taxpayers' money was being used to silence women who made sex complaints.

She said: 'This is taxpayers' money being spent to stop me talking about discrimination against women in the BBC.'

The Respect at Work review was launched by the former director general George Entwistle last October after news emerged that many of Savile's alleged offences took place on BBC premises.

The complainants have branded the BBC as 'hypocrites' for imposing the gags whilst proclaiming to be in the process of 'cleaning up' the culture which enabled Jimmy Savile to commit sex crimes without being exposed

The news comes in the same week veteran BBC broadcaster Stuart Hall, 83, made his first court appearance for 18 separate charges of sexual abuse spanning almost two decades.

Hall faces one charge of raping a young woman and 14 counts of indecent assault against children as young as nine.

He is alleged to have raped a 22-year-old woman in 1976 and 14 other alleged sexual assaults relate to 10 girls aged between nine and 16, between 1967 and 1986.