BBC could shift stars ‘off the books’ to hide their wages

THE pay packets of dozens of BBC stars are likely to be taken ‘off the books’ and hidden in an attempt to defuse the wage row, it emerged last night.

The corporation is thought to be planning to exploit a loophole which means actors and presenters of entertainment shows will not be covered by transparency rules.

Instead of being employed directly by the corporation, many will join its in house production arm, BBC Studios. Last night Prime Minister Theresa May urged the BBC to carry on publishing salary details in full.

Tory MPs accused the BBC of plotting to ‘play the system’ and using ‘clever accounting’ to avoid scrutiny.

Downing Street sources said they were aware of the loophole and were monitoring the BBC closely to see if rule changes were needed.

But the BBC insisted it would not publish BBC Studios salary data voluntarily – despite the outcry over yesterday’s list. In the Commons, Mrs May said the figures showed there were some people working in the public sector who were ‘very well paid’. Several stars were missing from the list because they are paid through private production companies or BBC Worldwide, including Bake Off star Mary Berry, Question Time anchor David Dimbleby and Sir David Attenborough.

Other entries were incomplete. Yesterday’s list showed Graham Norton earned £900,000, but that only covered his radio work and the Eurovision song contest. It did not include his earnings for The Graham Norton Show, which is produced by SO Television, the TV production firm which he sold to ITV.

Damian Collins, chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport committee said it was wrong that big names like Mr Dimbleby were not included. ‘This will only get worse with the shift to BBC Studios, which is considered a separate business,’ he said.

BBC director-general Lord Hall will face questions over the loophole when he appears before the committee in the Autumn.