BBC staff at the Mailbox are braced for an announcement on new job losses amid mounting speculation that its factual production department could be facing the chop.

The BBC confirmed that a decision on its Delivering Quality First programme – part of the 20 per cent cuts facing the corporation – was likely “in the next month or so.”

Sources said the latest round of cost-cutting could see the factual production department, which makes flagship programmes such as Gardeners’ World and The Sky At Night, close.

No decision has yet been announced, although the BBC confirmed in February that 26 of its 121 employees in the department were to go, including producers, assistant producers and researchers.

A source, who asked not to be identified, said: “Rumours are rife that we could see the closure of BBC Birmingham’s Vision/Factual programmes department later this year.”

But a BBC spokeswoman said: “We are not going to get drawn into a running commentary – no decisions have been taken and therefore these reports remain speculation.

“Any decisions coming out of the process would be subject to approval by the BBC Trust.

“We expect to hear more in the next month or so.”

Last month dozens of broadcast journalists walked out in a 24-hour stoppage in a protest by the National Union of Journalists at compulsory redundancies at the BBC World Service and BBC Monitoring.

NUJ members joined a rally outside the Mailbox to back the national day of protest, leaving the main Midlands Today bulletin cut to just three minutes with a skeleton staff.