Wage cuts ‘could tackle BBC gender pay gap’

“OVERPAID” male BBC stars could see their wages cut as part of the drive to close the corporation’s gender pay gap, director general Tony Hall has said.

Giving evidence to the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee yesterday, Lord Hall said he was determined to move towards a more equal pay structure at the BBC.

However, he resisted calls from MPs to disclose what top stars who are paid through inde- pendent production companies receive.

The BBC faced an outcry earlier this year when it disclosed that women account for just a third of its top earners, with only one in the top nine.

More than 40 high profile women, including Wendy Austin of BBC Northern Ireland, Clare Balding and Sue Barker, signed a letter calling for urgent action to address the problem.

Lord Hall said he was committed to tackling the issue. Asked by committee chairman Damian Collins if that meant “deflationary afford’?” he said. “Where we think someone is underpaid, we will correct that. But also, if we think somebody is overpaid, then we need to correct that too.”

Asked how that could affect high-earners like Radio 2’s Chris Evans and Jeremy Vine, Lord Hall suggested the BBC needed to do more to explain how individuals were paid when it published the next figures in 2018.

“In Jeremy’s case it is for an awful lot of programmes that he does, not just Radio 2. In Chris Evans’ case it is for another programme as well as Radio 2.”