BBC hires two £120k-a-year experts to weed out its wrongdoing after Huw Edwards and Gregg Wallace scandals
THE BBC is set to spend £240,000 a year on experts to root out misconduct in the wake of the Huw Edwards and Gregg Wallace scandals.
It has advertised two jobs — head of corporate investigations and whistle-blowing, and a director for the same department.
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The BBC is hiring experts to weed out wrongdoing in the wake of the Huw Edwards scandalCredit: Metropolitan Police/AFP via Gett
The move also follows Gregg Wallace being sacked as host of MasterChef after a misconduct probeCredit: Dave Benett/Getty Images
Each role has a salary of up to £120,000 — equivalent to a total of 1,375 TV licences.
The successful candidates will lead staff who are moving out of another section of the BBC to form a stand-alone unit.
The job description says applicants will play “a critical role in fostering a culture of transparency, accountability and trust”.
It adds they will have to deal with “serious criminal behaviour, violent and sexual offences, elevated personal risk and harassment”.
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The move follows Edwards’ suspension on his full £435,000-a-year salary in 2023, after The Sun revealed he had paid a young man for sexually explicit images.
He left the BBC in 2024 and it emerged complaints against him had not been properly investigated.
The initial probe was led by the BBC’s director of safety, security and resilience Simon Adair, who earns between £150,000 and £155,000.
Edwards, 64, received a six-month suspended jail sentence last year after pleading guilty to making indecent images of children.
Wallace was sacked as host of MasterChef last July after a probe into his time co-presenting the BBC One show upheld 45 of 83 complaints against him — mostly regarding sexually inappropriate behaviour.
The BBC later accepted that “more could and should have been done sooner”.
The head of department role being advertised has previously existed in name, but in another section of the BBC with a different job description.
A spokesman said: “These roles are part of a wider restructure.
“When it comes to pay, we strike a balance to ensure we are competitive and can attract the best people.”
The BBC has advertised two jobs, paying a total of £240kCredit: Getty
