Three reviews set up by the BBC in the wake of the Jimmy Savile sex scandal have so far cost licence fee payers almost £5m, the corporation’s annual report has revealed.

One of the inquiries – the Pollard Review – which looked into whether the trust’s management team failed in its handling of a dropped Newsnight investigation into the Savile allegations, cost £2.8m (inclusive of tax and VAT).

The cost of the review by former Sky News executive Nick Pollard included £101,000 to cover the “legal and related costs” of Helen Boaden who was heavily criticised in the report.

The then Head of News was among the senior executives who were criticised for failing to act while the BBC was plunged into chaos by the scandal.

Total legal costs for witnesses came to £391,120.92 while Mr Pollard was paid a fee of £81,600.

That review and subsequent investigations into respect at work and the BBC’s culture and practices while Savile worked there, the total cost to the end of March came to £4.9m.

But the eventual public bill will be even higher because the review into culture and practices is still being conducted by former High Court judge Dame Janet Smith and will be published later this year.

An extra strand of her investigation is under way in light of the conduct of former BBC presenter Stuart Hall, who was recently jailed after admitting the indecent assault of girls as young as nine.

Writing in the report, BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten quoted Charles Dickens to compare the success of the Olympics coverage with the Savile scandal saying “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”.

He said the revelations about the scrapped Newsnight investigation and subsequent departure of director-general George Entwistle were “low points”.

He said: “The BBC seriously let down both itself and licence fee payers”.

New director-general Tony Hall said he wanted to change the culture at the BBC and called for “greater personal accountability” and a simpler corporation.

In a letter to Lord Patten he said he had been “struck by the complexity of the organisation and inhibiting effect that has on creativity.”

He added that he was “personally leading a major piece of work to look at how we can simplify our organisation”.

The annual report and accounts also reveal that the BBC made £580m of savings during 2012/13.

Staffing levels across the corporation were reduced from 21,940 to 21,282 over the year, while senior management teams have been cut by 31% since 2009.

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