Zoe’s £400k pay cut
TOP SALARIES ARE REDUCED AS BBC BOSSES SLASH BILL
ZOE Ball took a pay cut of almost £400,000 as the BBC yesterday revealed a swathe of salary reductions for its biggest stars.
Radio 2 presenter Zoe, 50, had asked for a 28 per cent fall, which took her pay down to £980,000 from about £1.36million.
Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker remains on top of the BBC pay league, with his £400,000 cut leaving him earning £1.36million.
They were among an array of stars who accepted lower wages in a move that slashed the bill for top BBC talent by 10 per cent, it was said.
BBC director general Tim Davie said: “Everyone recognises the strategy, which is getting value to audiences and, without being funny, most conversations are mutual and constructive.
“Now, clearly as a management team, we want to get more value and we are willing to make tough decisions to that extent.”
The cuts come as the BBC revealed
in its annual report that it lost one million households as viewers in the past two years.
The dramatic drop in the number of licence fee holders comes with the BBC facing a further revolt from 260,000 pensioners who have so far declined to make arrangements to pay the £159 fee for the first time.
Tory MP Julian Knight, chairman of the Commons Culture Committee, welcomed the salary savings but stressed that some stars’ earnings were not covered by the accounts. He said: “It’s welcome that top earners have agreed to ‘significant reductions’ in their salaries this year.
“Yet, despite taking a pay cut, Gary Lineker is still earning £1.36million.
“There remains a concerning lack of transparency because a number of top-earning stars are paid through BBC Studios and their salaries don’t appear here.
“Without any indication of whether these earnings have gone up or down, licence fee payers are only getting half the picture on whether they are getting value for money. It’s time for the BBC to commit to full transparency on its talent bill.”
The savings were revealed in the published salaries of employees who earn more than £150,000. In total, the broadcaster spent about £19.6million on its leading stars, down from £21.7million the year before.
Managers said “significant reductions” were agreed with presenters “towards the very top of this list”.
THE BBC wants a pat on the back for trimming some of the gargantuan salaries paid to its stars, but it remains obscene that pensioners are still being hounded to fund the grotesque pay packets of celebrities.
Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker took a £400,000 pay cut but still earned £1.36million.
Radio 2’s Zoe Ball saw her pay drop by 28 per cent but she is unlikely to have money worries with wages of £980,000.
True public servants, particularly those who have been at the forefront of fighting the pandemic, perform infinitely more arduous tasks, requiring vastly greater skill for a fraction of the cost to the public purse.
The licence fee that funds the BBC is a de facto tax – and a highly regressive one, with over-75s on modest pensions paying the same £159 charge as millionaires.They have every right to feel outraged.