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The Â鶹Éç's final deadline for London-based staff, whose roles are relocating to Â鶹Éç North at MediaCityUK in Salford Quays, Greater Manchester, ended at midnight Wednesday 30 September 2009.

Five hundred and nineteen Â鶹Éç staff in grades 2 to 7 had to make their individual decisions and 45% (234) have decided to make the move. This is in line with the recent decision by 45% of senior staff who have already committed to move north.

The percentage of those choosing to relocate is significantly higher than initially expected. According to the Â鶹Éç's independent relocation partner for the move, Cartus, an acceptance figure of over 40% for large-scale relocations in both the public and private sector is considered high.

This final round of decisions means that the Â鶹Éç will now begin a programme of redeployment and recruitment both inside and outside the organisation in order to fill the roles left vacant by those staff who have decided not to move north.

Already nearly 1,000 staff from across the Â鶹Éç, whose roles are not moving to Â鶹Éç North, have expressed interest in the move.

Richard Deverell, Chief Operating Officer, Â鶹Éç North, said: "I would like to thank all staff for their professionalism at this challenging time. The leadership team is delighted with the number and calibre of staff from across the moving departments but appreciate that the move is not right for everyone."

He added: "Now the main part of the internal decision-making is complete, we will begin the next stage of the process which will involve a significant recruitment exercise as well as working hard on the redeployment of those staff who aren't moving to Â鶹Éç North.

"Looking ahead, this is an exciting time as we see more progress on the journey to our new home this month with the official handover of the first of our new buildings at Salford Quays."

Notes to Editors

Cartus is the Â鶹Éç's independent relocation partner for the move to Salford.

The Â鶹Éç is expected to begin moving into the new Â鶹Éç North in a phased way during 2011, from around Easter onwards.

Departments relocating to Â鶹Éç North at MediaCityUK in Salford are Children's, Sport, 5 Live, Learning and parts of Future, Media & Technology. An estimated 1,500 roles will relocate from London. Around 800 roles currently based at Â鶹Éç Manchester will also move to the new Â鶹Éç North in 2011.

Peter Salmon started his role as Â鶹Éç Director North full time on June 1 2009, while Richard Deverell, Head of Children's, has already been announced as the Chief Operating Officer for Â鶹Éç North.

The Â鶹Éç's priority is to redeploy staff who are not able to make the move in order to minimise redundancy costs. In the event that redeployment is not possible, the individual may be offered redundancy when the move is finally made.

Staff from across the Â鶹Éç in areas not moving who have expressed an interest in the Salford move have done so by registering for information via the staff intranet.

Â鶹Éç Press Office