The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Men dominate list of top BBC earners, with Evans £2m richer
Prime Minister criticises fact that women are paid lower amounts
The BBC’s first ever list of its stars’ salaries has revealed its top earning male personality was paid at least four times as much as its highest-paid female.
The annual report shows Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans earned between £2.2 million-£2.24m, while Strictly Come Dancing co-host Claudia Winkleman, the highest female earner, is ranked in the pay bracket of £450,000-£499,999.
The figures show only one-third of the list of talent earning more than £150,000 are women, with the top names being men, as details of stars’ pay was revealed in £50,000 bands.
Prime Minister Theresa May voiced her opinion on LBC as she criticised the BBC for paying women less than men for doing the same job and insisted the organisation must continue publishing its top salaries to prove it is tackling the problem. Mrs May told the radio station it was important the BBC “looks at the whole question of how they pay women and how they pay men for doing the same job”
The BBC has been forced to make the salary disclosures as part of negotiations with the Government for its new royal charter.
Sports pundit and presenter Gary Lineker is the second highest earner, bringing in between £1,75m-£1,79m, which is also nearly four times as much as BBC Sport’s next highest earner, his Match Of The Day colleague and fellow ex-striker Alan Shearer, who is paid between £400,000-449,000.
Question Of Sport and tennis presenter Sue Barker is the best-paid woman at BBC Sport, earning between £300,000-£349,999.
The top 10 on the list of 96 includes just two women, Radio 2 host Winkleman (£450,000-£499,999) and The One Show presenter Alex Jones (£400,000-£449,999).
Speaking at a press conference to launch the annual report, BBC Director-General Lord Hall defended Evans’ pay.
“Chris Evans is presenting the most popular show on the most popular radio network in Europe,” Lord Hall said.
“We do know that, for a number of presenters, they have been made offers by commercial radio.
“We’ve lost people to Amazon and to other big players. Also, the choice for some of our talent is to go and do something completely different because they’re entertainers.”
However, stars such as Lineker could face significant pay cuts if Jeremy Corbyn becomes prime minister, a Labour source indicated. The source confirmed Labour’s promise of a maximum 20-to-one ratio between the highest and lowest paid staff in public sector organisations would apply to those directly employed by the BBC.
Lineker poked fun at the salary reveal on Twitter, writing: “This whole BBC salary exposure business is an absolute outrage... I mean how can @chrisevans be on more than me?”
BBC presenter Andrew Marr defended his £400,000-a-year salary, claiming he has turned down higher offers from the broadcaster’s rivals.
We’ve lost people to other big players. LORD HALL, BBC
Ayear ago the BBC’s top earner Chris Evans was quoted as saying: “We’ve got a job that people would kill for... most of us work part-time. Just pay us less... it’s not rocket science.” Wise words which have, it seems, not been heeded. Many will be astonished to learn just how much of their licence fee is lavished on the corporation’s “top talent”.