BBC hands Today programme host £400k in equal pay battle
THE BBC is facing further huge payouts to underpaid female employees.
It comes after former Radio 4 Today programme host Sarah Montague received £400,000 following an internal investigation over equal pay.
Miss Montague, 53, had complained when she learned that her co-host of 18 years, John Humphrys, was paid almost five times her salary. BBC figures showed that the 76-year- old, who left Today in September last year, received between £600,000 and £649,000 in 2016/17.
Miss Montague, who also cohosted the show with another radio veteran, Jim Naughtie, was paid £133,000. She left in 2018 and went on to present Radio 4’s The World at One broadcast, where she remains.
‘Sarah’s case had rumbled on for some time and, for her, it was never about the money,’ a source said. ‘It was the principle of doing the same job as a man, and being paid, and treated, the same.
‘Her payout has been the talk of the BBC, and has inspired other women. But as far as both she and the Beeb are concerned, the matter is done and dusted.’
Last night Miss Montague tweeted: ‘When I discovered the disparity in my pay and conditions, I was advised that rectifying it all could run into the millions. I chose not to seek such sums from the BBC but I did want some recognition that they had underpaid me.
‘Last year after a long period of stressful negotiations, I accepted a settlement of £400,000 subject to tax and an apology from the BBC for paying me unequally for so many years.’
Her case is likely to open the floodgates for other women – leaving the BBC with a multi-million pound bill.
It follows Samira Ahmed winning a landmark employment tribunal against the corporation. The panel found that she should be paid the same amount as fellow presenter Jeremy Vine for doing ‘very similar’ work.
Miss Ahmed claimed she was owed almost £700,000 in back pay after receiving £440 per episode against Vine’s £3,000 per episode for Points of View.
The BBC has been mired in equal pay problems following Carrie Gracie’s resignation from her role as China editor in January 2018 when she learned that she was taking home tens of thousands less than US editor Jon Sopel.
The 58-year- old was finally given a £361,000 payout. Miss
Gracie said in November that it had been ‘very hard’ for her to realise that the BBC had not being paying her equally.
She added: ‘ Pay secrecy doesn’t really work in favour of women so it’s astonishing that women are such a big part of propping it up.’
Miss Gracie donated the money she received to gender equality charity The Fawcett Society, which has used it to set up a free legal aid service for women to fight workplace discrimination.
‘She has inspired other women’