BBC presenters have said the corporation forced hundreds of them to form companies so they could be treated as freelancers, leaving many facing large tax demands.



Speaking in front of the digital, culture, media and sport select committee, the Radio 4 Money Box host, Paul Lewis, said the BBC had pushed TV and radio presenters into setting up their own companies, depriving them of employment rights such as holiday and sick pay and pension contributions.

Presenters gave evidence that they feared ill-health and being made homeless after the personal service companies (PSCs), which the committee is investigating, later fell foul of the tax authorities, and they were faced with massive bills for unpaid taxes.

“This isn’t the story of well-paid presenters trading through companies to avoid tax. This is the story of the BBC forcing hundreds of presenters to form companies and treat them as freelancers,” Lewis said.

The BBC had a “duty of care” to warn staff pushed into setting up PSCs of the implications, but “those warnings were not given”, he said.

“There are people worried about their mortgages, people who have not been paid for months, people who have had double tax taken off them through this process of recoupment,” Lewis said.



The committee has received evidence from presenters who say they are facing ruin because of back-tax demands, some worth up to six figures. About 200 BBC presenters are being investigated by HMRC to establish whether they avoided tax because they were paid as contractors but were effectively BBC staff.

Lewis told the MPs the BBC had saved approximately £10m per year on national insurance payments through paying presenters through their companies.

The Radio 4 Front Row presenter, Kirsty Lang, told the committee she was instructed that she had no choice but to stop being staff and set up a PSC when she asked to go part-time because of family demands.

BBC Parliament (@BBCParliament) BBC presenter Kirsty Lang says all her 'worst fears' about going freelance came true. 'Not long after I went freelance, my step-daughter died suddenly, I was unable to take bereavement leave.' @bbckirstylang pic.twitter.com/WisBAnbQzT

“I was quite frightened, I was frightened of getting sick and not having a pension,” she said. Some months later, she said, “all my worst fears came true”. Her stepdaughter died suddenly and she was unable to take bereavement leave. She was then diagnosed with cancer and underwent treatment, only taking a month to recover after chemotherapy.



“I trusted the BBC, I was proud to be part of the BBC and I feel like I have been hung out to dry, I feel like I have been betrayed,” she said. “And I ask: where is their duty of care to me?”

The radio presenter Liz Kershaw told MPs she went back to work six weeks after giving birth. “To be separated from a baby for hours at work at that stage … the child suffers, the mother suffers,” she said.



BBC Parliament (@BBCParliament) BBC presenter Liz Kershaw @LizKershawDJ tells MPs she went back to work six weeks after giving birth.

"'To be separated from a baby for hours at work at that stage...the child suffers, the mother suffers." pic.twitter.com/Xax8L6lmJU

Kershaw said she was “coerced” into forming a PSC. “I totally believe in the BBC, but I really feel strongly that they have in a roundabout way libelled us,” she said. She and the other presenters giving evidence to the committee had been labelled greedy for asking the BBC to help employees facing tax bills.



“It’s not something I want to be a poster girl for, I really resent that because none of this is of our making,” Kershaw said.

BBC Parliament (@BBCParliament) BBC presenter Liz Kershaw @LizKershawDJ tells MPs she was effectively 'coerced' into forming a personal service company. pic.twitter.com/CHXCHtIgAC

In evidence given to the committee before the session, an anonymous presenter said she had tried to kill herself because of stress caused by the employment arrangements.

She told the inquiry she was given no alternative to setting up a PSC if she wanted to continue to be employed after maternity leave. But HMRC ruled she was a BBC employee and demanded tens of thousands of pounds in employer’s national insurance contributions.

“The way the BBC has employed me has meant I have lost out on a life-changing sum of money, but it is the emotional cost which is more concerning,” she said.

Damian Collins, the committee chairman, said the BBC had fallen well below the standards expected in its treatment of staff.

The BBC said: “[We have] always tried to balance our responsibilities to presenters with our responsibility to spend the licence fee appropriately. The BBC is aware that there is a very high hurdle where public money is concerned and the whole purpose of the work is to inform and advise, so we cannot prejudge the outcome.



“The process will only consider whether the BBC should contribute towards demands for employer’s national insurance contributions, not demands for other taxes which individuals are liable for.”