ITV pays female staff 16% less than male counterparts

ITV has revealed its female employees are paid on average 16.4 per cent less than its male employees.

The broadcaster said in its gender pay gap report for 2017 that the gap exists “because of the make-up of our workforce”. Although ITV employs more women than men, with women making up 53 per cent of the workforce, the company said more men than women work in the most senior or highly paid roles, and more women than men work in lower paying roles.

Women make up 60 per cent of the workforce in the lowest quartile of pay bands, while men make up 58 per cent of workers in the upper quartile. As a result, the gender bonus gap is 49 per cent.

“We’re committed to supporting flexibility and helping all of our employees balance their career with life outside of work. At ITV, many more women than men choose to work less than full-time hours, and take extended family leave, which also has an impact on our numbers, particularly our mean bonus gap,” the broadcaster said.

ITV said it was “committed to ensuring that there are no barriers within ITV that prevent women being able to progress and fully achieve their personal career goals”.

The firm said that, as a result of publishing the pay gap figures, it was setting up a new gender pay gap working group, sponsored by Ian Griffiths, ITV’s chief operations officer and finance chief, “to specifically focus on continued delivery of the right actions for us”.

Carolyn McCall became ITV’s first female chief executive in January, after seven years leading easyJet. Her replacement at the budget airline, Johan Lundgren, asked for his salary to be cut when it emerged the group had a gender pay gap of 52 per cent.

ITV’s gender pay gap report follows similar publications by Channel 4, the BBC and ITN. Channel 4 revealed a pay gap of 28.6 per cent, the BBC said its gap was 9.3 per cent, and ITN unveiled a 19.6 per cent gap.