BBC will ‘look at all options’ to reclaim pay from Huw Edwards

BBC director-general Tim Davie has said the corporation will “look at all options” in trying to reclaim pay from Huw Edwards after the veteran broadcaster admitted accessing indecent images of children.

The BBC boss was probed on the corporation’s handling of the case after it said it knew of Edwards’ arrest on “suspicion of serious offences” in November, but continued employing him until April.

Before Edwards resigned on medical advice, he was the broadcaster’s highest-paid newsreader, with a pay bracket of between £475,000 and £479,999 for the year 2023/24, according to the BBC’s latest annual report.

Speaking to BBC News about Edwards’ pay and pension, Mr Davie said: “These are, unfortunately, the specifics of how it works, that we can’t claw back pension.

“I think when it comes to pay, again, legally challenging but we’ll look at all options.”

Edwards’ last salary marked a £40,000 pay rise from 2022/23, when he was paid between £435,000 and £439,999.

The director-general said it was made up of an “inflationary increase” and work he did at the BBC in February 2023 before any allegations were made.

Davie also defended the corporation’s decision not to fire Edwards when it was told about his arrest in November.

He said: “The police came to us and said, ‘Look, we need to do our work in total confidence, we’ve arrested, please keep this confidential’.

“And at that point, I think the principle is clear in my mind, and I say we thought long and hard about this, this wasn’t a knee-jerk decision.

“And it was difficult but when the police, if you think about this in terms of precedent, people do get arrested and then we’ve had situations where no charges (are made) and there’s nothing there to be followed up on.

“In this case, we knew it was serious. We knew no specifics, apart from the category of the potential offences.”

On Wednesday, Edwards admitted three charges of making indecent photographs after he was sent 41 illegal images by convicted paedophile Alex Williams, with seven being of the most serious type.

Mr Davie said he was “very shocked” when the charges came to light in full earlier this week, adding that the revelation had been “deeply disturbing”.

He also claimed that because Edwards remained suspended before his resignation in April, it meant there were no issues relating to BBC employees’ safety.

He added: “Another factor at this point was very significant duty-of-care considerations.

“I think it was right for us to say, ‘Look, we’ll let the police do their business, and then when charges happen, we will act’.”

Addressing the prospect of there being any more information that the BBC knew, he said the corporation was “not sitting on anything that I think we need to share with the police, or is of a serious nature that would make me feel that we hadn’t followed up properly”.

He continued: “I can categorically say that when it comes to the offences we’ve seen, which are truly horrendous, any evidence that is out there is not in the hands of the BBC.

“If I saw evidence of that, that is not a complicated decision.”

After Edwards’ guilty plea, the BBC said that if he had been charged while he was still an employee it would have sacked him, but at the point of charge he no longer worked for the corporation.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed that officers told the BBC in “strict confidence” about the arrest of Edwards in November.

A statement from the force said: “The Met informed the BBC’s governance department that Huw Edwards had been arrested on November 8 2023.

“Common law police disclosure (CLPD) is the established legal mechanism through which the police can inform an individual’s employer when they are arrested or alleged to have committed an offence. It is often used where the individual holds a position of trust/responsibility with the public.

“The information is provided in strict confidence in order to enable the individual’s employer to consider what risk mitigation measures might be necessary.”

Sir Keir Starmer said he was “shocked and appalled” by the news when asked about the case at a press conference in Downing Street.

The Prime Minister also confirmed Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy was due to hold urgent talks with Mr Davie on Thursday.

Members of the public currently pay £169.50 a year for the licence fee and questions are likely to be raised if Edwards’ salary was the best use of that money.

At the time the annual report was published, Davie defended Edwards’ £40,000 pay rise, saying: “We are always trying to be very judicious with the spending of public money and no-one wants to waste a pound.

“But what you’re trying to do, and from the onset of that affair, was trying to act proportionally, fairly and navigate this appropriately.

“I think that’s what we did… but I think we wouldn’t have wasted money if we weren’t doing the right thing.”

Edwards resigned from the BBC in April “on the basis of medical advice from his doctors” after unrelated allegations that he paid a young person for sexually explicit photos.

Police found no evidence of criminal behaviour in the matter.

Edwards will next appear in court on September 16.