High earners paid by public may have to reveal salaries

Musicians, actors and sports coaches would have to disclose wages under government proposal

CLASSICAL conductors, theatre directors and athletics coaches could be forced to disclose their salaries in the wake of the publication of the wages paid to the BBC’S television and radio stars.

The news emerged as anger at the salaries paid to male BBC stars spilled over in the House of Commons, with a Tory MP saying he was “sickened” and offering to host a show himself.

Ministers are examining whether to make it a requirement that high earners’ salaries are published as a condition of winning government grants.

Such a move, for example, could see the salary of stars at the London Symphony Orchestra or the National Theatre being published for the first time. Other leading musicians and coaches for Team GB’S Olympic sport could also have to publish their salaries if they are above a certain threshold.

One ministerial source said the Government wanted to continue the principle that large salaries which were funded or part paid for by public money should be disclosed. This would mean that any arts body that relied heavily on public funding should publish the salaries of its stars.

The source said: “It is not about the activity but where they get the money from. The principals, the conductors, that sort of thing – you could reasonably make the argument that they are funded out of the public purse.”

Ministers are planning to return to the issue in September and could introduce the requirement as a condition of new grants in the 2019-20 tax year, The Daily Telegraph understands. The source said: “The recipients of major new grants could be asked to follow the same lines as the BBC.”

The BBC also admitted some of its richest stars could potentially be routing their salaries through personal service companies so they can lower their tax bills. The broadcaster declined to reveal which of its on-air talent benefit from the deals, which it pledged to scrap after a 2012 report found the corporation was paying more than 124 stars via personal service companies.

However, some of the presenters who appeared on Wednesday’s list of earners over £150,000 are still being paid through personal firms.

Tory MPS expressed their concerns about BBC salaries in the House of Commons. Sir David Amess said he would be happy to step in and host BBC shows, adding: “I and other members of the House are absolutely sickened by the senior pay of certain members of the BBC.”

Nigel Evans MP called for £1billion to be taken from the licence fee to fund the NHS after discovering that Casualty actor Derek Thompson earns up to £400,000 a year to play a nurse on the programme “and yet someone who is a real nurse earns round about £23,000 a year”. Mr Evans said: “There is a double injustice there that somebody who actually does make real life and death decisions on a daily basis earns a fraction of an actor playing somebody who makes life and death decisions.”

In the House of Lords, Lord Steel of Aikwood said it was “outrageous that any individual is paid from the licence fee more than £2 million”, a reference to the £2.2million-a-year salary of Radio 2’s Chris Evans.