Loophole will let them hide even more details
THE BBC will exploit a loophole to hide the pay details of around a third of the staff on its rich list next year.
It will channel fees though its BBC Worldwide commercial arm, as well as through private production companies.
The corporation will also be able to dodge the glare of public scrutiny by shifting stars off its main books and on to those of its production arm, BBC Studios, which was spun off as a commercial company in April.
Both BBC Worldwide and BBC Studios are owned by the public, but they are being used as a way of concealing how their money is being spent.
The tactics will make it much harder to establish how much the BBC’s top-paid stars earn, and to see if it is delivering on its promise to close the gender pay gap.
The corporation fought to keep its star pay deals a secret, but was forced by the Government to publish the wages of those on £150,000 or over.
However, Downing Street said that the BBC only had to disclose wages paid from the licence fee – and the BBC has taken it at its word. It has not published any details of payments channelled through BBC Worldwide, which is often used to supplement the pay of its biggest stars whose shows sell around the world.
Top Gear host Matt Le Blanc was absent from the rich list for this reason, and it is understood that the BBC also used BBC Worldwide to top up Chris Evans’ already gargantuan pay packet.
The BBC is now expected to offer more stars pay deals via BBC Worldwide.
And the cover-up is only set to get worse in next year’s annual report. Now that BBC Studios has been spun off as a commercial company, it will be able to keep secret the pay it gives stars for appearing on major BBC TV shows.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘As BBC Studios is now a fully commercial subsidiary, having to compete alongside independent production companies for work with the BBC and other broadcasters, the DCMS [Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport] agreed that this information should not be disclosable in future years.’