It isn't a matter of whether any payments can be afforded or not 😐

Exempting the BBC from claims for damages would set an unholy precedent.

Once yo exempt one body there is nothing to stop other organisations being granted similar immunity - councils, police, health services, government departments, banks, social services etc.

Any claim for damages has to be just that, "for damage".  Any claimant would have to prove a number of key points including the most important of all that they have suffered damage, either emotional or financial.  They would then have to show that the damage had been caused by an employee through actions that were either criminal or negligent.  Finally they would have to show that any reasonable employer would have systems in place to either prevent such occurences or would have taken action to mitigate the dmage once they were aware of them.

Some may be tempted to make spurious claims for financial reasons but there is a huge difference between making a claim and proving it.