BBC in gender pay gap row as men top rich list
BBC is hit by a gender pay gap storm after revealing top seven earners are all men
DAN WALKER THE BBC were engulfed in a huge political row yesterday over their gender pay gap as it emerged their top seven earning stars were all male and earning millions – while no female star was on more than £500,000.
Figures from the Corporation’s annual report showed that Radio 2’s Chris Evans is the highest-earning BBC employee on at least £2.2million, with sports pundit and presenter Gary Lineker earning up to £1.8million.
But their salaries dwarf that of the highest-paid woman on the list, Claudia Winkleman, who is in the £450,000£499,999 band.
A breakdown of the 96 names of on-air talent by gender who earned more than £150,000 showed there were 62 male and 34 female staff earning a total of £28.6million, with a number of women working in similar roles but earning less money.
BBC Director general Tony Hall insisted the corporation needs to “go further and faster on issues of gender and diversity” as he faced accusations of sexism and overpaying some staff.
Prime Minister Theresa May criticised the BBC for paying women less than men for doing the same job and insisted the organisation must continue publishing their top salaries to prove they are tackling the problem.
May said it was important the BBC “looks at the whole question of how they pay women and how they pay men for doing the same LOUISE MINCHIN GARY LINEKER CLAUDIA WINKLEMAN job”. Asked about May’s comments, BBC’s director of strategy and digital James Purnell said: “We are not paying them in a discriminatory way, we pay them according to their value to the BBC and their value to the audience.” BBC stars would face huge pay cuts under a Labour Government, Jeremy Corbyn’s spokesman vowed. The party would slash maximum salaries so they were no more than 20 times higher than Auntie’s lowest-paid workers. If a directly-employed JEREMY VINE