BBC pledges to close 10pc gender pay gap

Corporation promises to improve diversity as it admits few females have been chosen for top jobs

The BBC has disclosed it pays men 10 per cent more than women, with a study of the corporation’s salaries showing the gap exists largely because of a lack of women in senior managerial roles. The BBC said it was “not complacent” about the findings. It pledged to end single-sex panels when interviewing for jobs and to “strive for diverse shortlists” for each role. It follows widespread condemnation over gender pay gaps among its stars.

THE BBC has disclosed it pays men 10 per cent more than women as it promises to ban same-sex interview panels to get to grips with a lack of women in senior roles. A study of the corporation’s salaries shows the gap exists largely because of a lack of women in senior managerial roles.

The BBC said it was “not complacent” about the findings and pledged to end single-sex panels when interviewing for jobs and promised to “strive for diverse shortlists” for each role.

It follows widespread condemnation over gender pay gaps among its stars, with men making up two-thirds of the “talent” paid more than £150,000.

Lord Hall, the director-general, said: “Fairness in pay is vital. We have pledged to close the gender pay gap by 2020 and have targets for equality and diversity. We have done a lot already, but we have more to do.”

In a report published yesterday, Lord Hall and Anne Bulford, his deputy, admitted nearly two thirds of the top earners in management were men.

However, they pointed out this compared well with averages compiled by the Office for National Statistics averages, which show that women represent less than a fifth of the workforce in top management. A second report, an equal pay audit within the BBC undertaken by PWC and Eversheds, found there was “no systematic bias” within the BBC on the sole basis of sex, pointing out “mixed” factors were at play.

The audit did not take into account senior managers, on-air editors, presenters or correspondents; a separate investigation into them is due by the end of the year.

Sir Patrick Elias, a former appeals court judge who oversaw the report, wrote that his conclusion “that there is no systemic discrimination against women in the BBC’S pay arrangements for these staff is amply borne out by the statistical evidence”.

Lord Hall said: “While today’s reports show that we are in a better place than many organisations, I want a BBC that is an exemplar not just in the media but in the country.

“This is an essential part of modernising the BBC. And, if the BBC is to truly reflect the public it serves, then the make-up of our staff must reflect them.”

But Michelle Stanistreet, of the National Union of Journalists, said the pay gap was still too big, adding: “We are reviewing a significant amount of cases brought to us by women who believe they are being paid less than male colleagues for similar work.”

♦ The Profumo affair is to be brought to life for a new generation on the BBC in a drama, The Trial of Christine Keeler.

The case that scandalised Britain in 1963 will be retold as “Salem Witch Trial meets OJ Simpson” with a script described as “a perfect storm of gender, class, race and power”.