Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú

The Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú and journalists' unions have reached an agreement in principle to resolve a dispute over staff pensions.

The two sides met at conciliation service Acas and afterwards, in an internal e-mail, Director of Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú People Lucy Adams said a conclusion had been reached on one outstanding issue.

The National Union of Journalists said the agreement would be considered by staff representatives on Friday.

Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú staff held two days of strikes at the start of the month over the issue.

A second strike the following week was called off, but a work-to-rule was introduced.

The dispute stems from the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's plans to reduce a pensions deficit which the corporation says is £1.5bn by capping increases in pensionable pay at 1% from next April.

After the initial plan was rejected by the unions, the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú revised its offer, agreeing, among other changes, that the career-average benefit pension - based on the average salary over an employee's entire career - would be revalued by up to 4% each year, rather than the previous offer of 2.5%.

Broadcasting union Bectu voted to accept the revised deal, but the NUJ, which has 4,100 members at the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú, voted to reject it.

In her e-mail, head of personnel Ms Adams told staff: "We are pleased to say that discussions on behalf of the joint unions and the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú reached a conclusion and an agreement in principle was signed by the joint unions on this final outstanding point.

"We now expect to move towards finalising our proposals and will keep you updated in the next few weeks."