Mark Byford, the BBC’s deputy director general, has been made redundant, as the corporation looks to deliver on a promise to cut back senior management numbers and rein in its much-criticised executive salary bill. Byford, who has always worked with the BBC, will reportedly receive £800-900,000 pay-off .

Mark Thompson, the director general, is expected to announce that Byford, who has worked at the BBC for almost 32 years, will leave early next summer. Sharon Baylay, the head of marketing and communications, and Lucy Adams, the human resources director, will also step down from the corporation’s 10-strong executive board, on which Byford sat. Baylay and Adams will, however, stay in their jobs.

The move is the latest attempt by Thompson to show critics that the BBC is willing to make cuts from rank and file staff to key lieutenants, and focus more of the licence fee on delivering programmes and services.

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