The BBC’s best-known presenters and journalists are ready to rebel over proposals that employees should have to reapply for their own jobs to help to cut 10 per cent of the workforce.

Hundreds of employees could be told to complete CVs and 200-word supporting statements, under moves to get rid of more than 2,000 posts — most of them in current affairs and documentaries, which are at the heart of the BBC’s public service remit. In television news and websites, up to 20 per cent of staff are expected to go in some sections.

The news department is expected to lose 600 jobs, with 80 going in sport and several hundred in the factual programmes section, which makes hits such as Panorama and Planet Earth. The first cuts will be made in the new year, with managers hoping that most will be completed by April.

A senior BBC journalist said that there were “already a lot of angry people because of the scale of the job losses in current affairs. I can’t see anyone agreeing to write about why they should be given their own jobs. How can I sum up my career in 200 words? We will just refuse to do it.”

Mark Thompson, the Director-General, will ask the corporation’s governing trust tomorrow to approve the job cuts, to plug a funding “gap” of £2 billion over the six years caused by a lower-than-expected licence fee settlement.

Mr Thompson will also announce the creation of up to 1,000 jobs, possibly by increasing investment in new media and “ultra-local” television services.

The BBC Trust will also discuss selling Television Centre in West London and introducing advertising to the international edition of the BBC News website.

Star presenters and senior staff are to be informed of the scale of the job cuts by Mr Thompson at a meeting tomorrow evening. Other staff will be told on Thursday morning before a joint meeting of the broadcasting workers’ union Bectu and the National Union of Journalists.

The proposals to make staff reapply for their own jobs is being considered in the interests of ensuring that the corporation is not accused of using unfair criteria for selecting staff for compulsory redundancy.

This year, staff on Newsnight such as Martha Kearney and Michael Crick opposed plans to use the procedure for job cuts. A letter to executives said: “We will not be filling out draft CVs. Nor will any correspondent be meeting you or your team individually as part of the selection process.”

Senior BBC figures including James Naughtie, of the Radio 4 Today programme, and Gavin Esler, of Newsnight, have already signed an open letter expressing dismay over the “salami slicing” of their budgets. Corrie Corfield, Charlotte Green and Brian Perkins are among more than 80 radio staff who have signed a letter to the BBC Trust opposing the job losses.

Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the trust, has told presenters to stop complaining about the proposals in public.

BBC executives were told last week that newsdesk staff would bear the brunt of the cutbacks to limit the impact on on-air correspondents.

Yesterday five MPs signed an early day motion protesting that “more job losses would mean compromising the quality of service”.

Bectu and the NUJ will make clear they will not accept compulsory redundancies and will demand an assessment to ensure that remaining staff can cope with any extra workload. Strikes would be “inevitable” were these demands not met, a source said.

The BBC said: “The BBC’s savings proposals are currently being considered by the trust. As a result, it would be premature for any selection process to begin. Naturally, we would follow fair and proper procedures.”

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