An announcement by the BBC of 45 more job losses within its news division is "a slap in the face" for staff, the National Union of Journalists has said.

An article in BBC staff newspaper Ariel yesterday announced that BBC News was to cut a further 45 jobs in the final year of a five-year Delivering Creative Future plan which has already seen 420 jobs lost.

In the announcement BBC director of news Helen Boaden said the broadcaster is committed to avoiding compulsory redundancies "wherever possible".

"We will consider volunteers for redundancy and will do our utmost to make it possible for people to seek redeployment within News and the wider BBC, but we all have to be realistic about the difficulties of redeployment in these challenging financial times."

The latest jobs, 18 of which are from the TV Centre newsroom, are to be cut by April next year.

Boaden added that management will be consulting with unions later this week, as the NUJ is already preparing to issue ballots for strike action over other compulsory redundancies.

In a statement NUJ general secretary elect Michelle Stanistreet said the cuts "can only damage" the service.

"Today's announcement is a slap in the face for a dedicated team of people who have already endured much in the name of more efficient management, and for whom the axe of redundancy seems forever poised above their heads."

In an email to staff head of the newsroom Mary Hockaday added that volunteers for redundancy would be sought in affected areas and redeployment opportunities explored, but added that "the BBC retains the right, as a last resort, to make people compulsorily redundant".

The news follows separate major staff and service reductions in the World Service and jobs cuts across other areas of the BBC, including Online and Monitoring.

Hockaday also announced this week that licence fee funding is to be withdrawn from early morning BBC World News output, which is transmitted on BBC One, "with the intention that commercial revenues fill the funding gap".

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