BBC’s ‘cover-up’ over pay of stars on new rich list

THE BBC has used ‘smoke and mirrors’ to avoid disclosing the salaries of dozens of highly paid stars on its latest rich list today, MPs said last night.

Last year, it revealed which salary bands all staff paid more than £150,000 fell into, with the approximate wages of stars including Claudia Winkleman and Gary Lineker published for all to see.

But today, the earnings of household names such as Strictly Come Dancing’s Tess Daly and The One Show’s Alex Jones could be hushed up because the programmes they present are produced by BBC Studios, the BBC’s commercial arm.

The BBC agreed with the Government to publish its top salaries annually. But it only includes stars paid directly by the licence fee.

This means a string of major celebrities, who are paid directly by production companies or the BBC’s commercial arm, can be left out.

BBC Studios was created to let the corporation sell shows to rival broadcasters and compete with giants such as Netflix. It creates the likes of DIY SOS, The One Show and Strictly Come Dancing.

One presenter on today’s list said of BBC Studios: ‘It sounds like a BBC organisation, it acts like a BBC organisation but, on paper and legally, it is not. It has caused confusion. The other deep resentment among presenters is there is not a level playing field. You have some of us having our salaries published with all of the ghastliness that comes with it. You either disclose people’s salaries or you don’t.’

Last year’s pay revelations have created a ‘ bloody nightmare’, according to one star whose earnings are disclosed. The pay of topearning male stars has been cut following widespread outrage after it emerged that just one of the BBC’s top ten earners was a woman.

Damian Collins MP, chairman of the Commons digital, culture, media and sport committee, said last night: ‘If people look at the report and say, “Last year we were told how much BBC presenters in entertainment programmes were getting paid, this year we are not going to be told at all,” people will think that’s a backwards step.’

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said the BBC was ‘using smoke and mirrors to obscure the gender pay gap’.

The BBC said it had worked hard on equal pay, adding: ‘People should wait to see what we publish tomorrow before jumping to conclusions.’