BBC's top marketer received £390,000 redundancy payoff

Baylay’s departure from the corporation was made public in October last year as part of a reduction in the size of the corporation's executive board.

She had worked for the BBC for just under two years after joining in February 2009 from Microsoft, where she had worked as general manager of online services in the UK.

Baylay’s £345,000-a-year post was closed as part of a management cull by director general Mark Thompson that also led to the departure of deputy director general Mark Byford.

A report today (29 June) in the Daily Telegraph quoted figures from the BBC’s forthcoming accounts, which it claimed detailed the size of the payoff made to Baylay.

The report said the accounts, which are expected to be made public on July 12, also showed that Byford had been paid almost £950,000 as a redundancy payoff.

Byford, who had worked for the BBC since 1979, became a contentious figure last year during the corporation’s wrangle with its staff over changes to its pension scheme, when it was revealed his personal pension pot was around £4m, believed to be one of the largest ever in the public sector.

Baylay’s departure left Helen Normoyle, director of marketing, as the next most senior marketer at the corporation.

The changes came amid a review of the corporation's marketing agency roster, started at the beginning of last year. A concurrent review of its marketing function reduced its budget to £89m in 2010/11, down £4.3m from the previous year.

A spokeswoman for the BBC refused to comment on the payoffs, but added: "Figures will be included in the BBC's annual report and accounts to be published in July, and we will not be drawn in advance of that.

"We have made significant progress on reducing both our senior manager headcount and pay bill, and we are on target to reach our proposed reductions."

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk