BBC gender pay ruling attacked as ‘whitewash’

The BBC has been cleared of gender pay discrimination in an investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The decision was immediately dismissed by critics as a “whitewash”. The findings were made despite the BBC admitting that it had settled 35 unequal pay cases, and lost a high-profile employment tribunal brought by the presenter Samira Ahmed. The commission was presented with more than 1,000 complaints, but chose to look in-depth at 10.

THE BBC has been cleared of gender pay discrimination in an investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission that women immediately dismissed as a “whitewash”.

The findings were made despite the BBC admitting that it has settled 35 unequal pay cases, and lost a high-profile employment tribunal brought by Samira Ahmed.

The commission was presented with more than 1,000 complaints from BBC employees but chose to look in-depth at just 10.

It found “no unlawful acts of pay discrimination” and accepted the BBC’S reasoning that some of its male presenters were paid more than women because they had a higher “profile”, “audience recognition”, “market power”, or were a “flight risk”, meaning they could defect to a rival broadcaster if not rewarded handsomely.

The BBC awarded salary increases in nine of the 10 cases after the women raised grievances. But the commission accepted the BBC’S explanation that those payments were made on a “fair pay” rather than an equal pay basis. “Fair pay” has no meaning in law.

Women at the corporation said the findings were nonsensical, pointing out that BBC pay discrimination was proven in January this year when a tribunal judge ruled that Samira Ahmed was underpaid by £700,000 in comparison to Jeremy Vine, her closest comparator.

There are currently four further cases going through the tribunal process. The 35 equal pay settlements are in addition to 470 “fair pay” settlements made to women in the past three years.

Presenters who have fought pay battles include Sarah Montague, who was paid a fraction of her male colleagues’ salaries on Today on Radio 4. She announced earlier this year that she had won a £400,000 settlement and an apology from the BBC “for paying me unequally for so many years”.

Carrie Gracie, who resigned from her post as the BBC’S China editor in a dispute over equal pay and was later awarded £361,000 in back pay, tweeted yesterday: “Report on BBC equal pay feels like a whitewash.

“Examined just 10 cases… seriously? Follow the ££ instead. BBC forced to pay out to hundreds of BBC women. Moral of story – don’t rely on regulator but stay strong, calm, united and justice will prevail.”

The commission said it was limited to 10 cases because it is a public body with limited staff and funds. It did criticise many of the BBC’S processes, saying it found evidence of managers awarded “non-standard” pay increases without oversight, while many documents explaining the reason for awarding pay rises to men were “missing”.

The grievance process was so lengthy that some cases took two years to resolve, the commission said, and the stress led to many women suffering from insomnia, anxiety and stress.

The report also noted that Croner, the law firm brought in by the BBC as an “independent third party” on pay grievances, boasts on its website that it “gets results for employers”.

BBC Women, a campaign group made up of 150 presenters and production staff, said: “The EHRC tells us they found no breach of the law in how the BBC handled pay complaints – this does not address the systemic issue of unequal pay suggested by the hundreds of pay increases and settlements the BBC has made to women.

“Out of over 1,000 complaints, the EHRC looked in depth at only 10 cases and accepted the BBC’S excuses for why these were not ‘likely’ to be equal pay cases. We question why the EHRC discounted equal pay cases it knows the BBC has been forced to settle. New cases are coming forward and women are still heading to court. We fight on.”