FURIOUS WOMEN TO FORCE PAY HIGHER
Show by show, huge gender pay gap at oh-so-right-on BBC – and the female stars who didn’t make list
The BBC faces having to make another huge increase in its salary bill after its ‘talent’ list revealed a huge gender pay divide.
The Prime Minister yesterday accused the Corporation of ‘paying women less for doing the same job as the men’.
The top seven earning stars were all men, as were 62 of the 96 on the list, there were no female names in any category above £500,000 and half of all the women in the list were in the lowest band.
There were also some remarkable discrepancies between male and female presenters on individual shows.
One of the BBC’s own stars even branded Radio 2 as ‘extraordinarily male and entirely pale’ yesterday. Woman’s hour host Jane Garvey lambasted the station as it emerged that Radio 2 hosts Chris evans, Jeremy Vine and Graham Norton are three of the four bestpaid stars at the BBC – earning nearly £4million between them.
By contrast, dozens of wellknown female presenters – including Miss Garvey herself – did not even make it on to the list of toppaid stars at all because they don’t make £150,000 a year.
The BBC now faces having to pay out tens of millions of pounds to even up the imbalance – in a move that is likely to send its £ 194million- a- year talent bill soaring.
Lawyers warned the Corporation could be deluged with legal claims over the apparent discrimination. Newsnight host emily Maitlis, Today programme presenter Sarah Montague, sports presenter hazel Irvine and BBC Breakfast host Louise Minchin were all among the staff who do not earn enough to appear on the list.
Yesterday, Theresa May appeared to directly accuse the BBC of sex discrimination. ‘What has happened today is that we have seen the way the BBC is paying women less for doing the same job as the men,’ she told LBC.
‘I want to see women paid equally with men. The only reason we know about this though is because the Government required the BBC to publish these figures.’
She said she wants Lord hall to fulfil his promise to ‘abolish’ the gender pay gap.
Women’s hour presenter Jenni Murray, Desert Island Discs host Kirsty Young, Five Live host Rachel Burden and BBC Breakfast and Watchdog host Steph McGovern also failed to make the cut. Claudia Winkleman was the highest earning woman presenter on up to £500,000-a-year – but she earns less than a quarter of Chris evans’s salary from the licence fee.
Legal experts warned yesterday that the BBC could face a much bigger bill – and a blow to its reputation – if it does not take swift action to level the playing field.
Paula Chan, an employment lawyer at Slater and Gordon, said: ‘A number of high-profile female employees will now be examining the figures and demanding an explanation as to why they are being paid less than their male colleagues.
‘If the justification isn’t satisfactory, equal pay claims may be taken which would not only be costly but incredibly damaging to the reputation of the BBC.’ here we look at the pay gap on some of the BBC’s flagship programmes:
BBC BREAKFAST
Presenter Dan Walker gets up to £250,000 a year. Insiders said there was a palpable chill on set yesterday after the revelation that he earns significantly more than his female colleagues.
But fellow presenters – including Louise Minchin, who has been on the programme for 11 years, and Sally Nugent – were not on the list of 96 top-paid stars – meaning they earn less than £150,000.
Presenter Naga Munchetty was revealed to receive up to £199,999. her higher pay is understood to be linked to her appearance on the most recent series of Strictly Come Dancing.
RADIO 4’s TODAY
host John humphrys earns up to £650,000, more than twice Nick Robinson ( who receives up to £299,999) and considerably more than Mishal husain (£249,999) Justin Webb (£199,999) and Sarah Montague ( under £150,000).
humphrys’s take-home pay also covers his role as quiz master on the BBC2’s Mastermind.
he last night contrasted his role with that of the firefighters who responded to the Grenfell Tower disaster as he admitted that he did not deserve his salary as much as other public sector workers.
humphrys, 73, told Radio 4’s Media Show after the salary figures were released: ‘What do I do?
‘On paper, absolutely nothing that justifies that amount of money. If you compare me with lots of other people – a doctor who saves a child’s life, a nurse who comforts a dying person, or a fireman who rushes into Grenfell Tower – then of course you couldn’t argue that I am not worth twopence halfpenny.
‘however, we operate in a market place and I think I provide a fairly useful service.’
humphrys argued it was right for the BBC to publish its stars’ salaries but complained about the fact that some of his ‘brilliant’ female Today colleagues, such as Montague and husain, did not make the top 100 list. he said: ‘I’m not happy with that... I don’t think that is right.’
THE BBC NEWSROOM
Anchor huw edwards was paid up to £ 600,000 last year – about £250,000 more than Fiona Bruce and nearly four times more than Sophie Raworth. Miss Bruce – who also hosts Antiques Roadshow – earned between £ 350,000 and £399,999, while Sophie Raworth earned £150,000 to £199,999.
STRICTLY COME DANCING
Judges Darcey Bussell and Craig Revel horwood could be earning nearly £100,000 less than the other judges.
Bussell, 48, a retired ballerina who was the only woman judge on the programme, earned between £150,000 and £199,999 last year, as did fellow judge Craig Revel horwood, 52, a dancer, choreographer and theatre director.
But Len Goodman, 73, who has since stood down as head judge of the UK version of the series, was paid up to £249,999. Bruno Tonioli, 61 – who also worked on eurovision: You Decide – also earned up to £249,999.