Gary to get pay cut in drive for equality at BBC
New deal has Lineker among top earners at corporation STAR’S SALARY TO DROP TO £1.35 MILLION
TOP BBC earner Gary Lineker is to get a pay cut by nearly a quarter next year as the broadcaster drives for sexual equality in pay packets.
Lineker’s salary is currently £1.75 million and that will not change until next year, when his new contract will see his salary trimmed to £1.35 million.
It was one of a number of changes the corporation were set to make in terms of the stars and their salaries.
But Lineker said he was happy to keep working for the broadcaster. “I love working with the BBC and am very proud to continue to be a part of their outstanding football team.
“I’m looking forward to the next five years – with a European Championship and World Cup on the horizon, it’s exciting times for me and the team.”
The biggest winner the new pay rates will be Zoe Ball, who will get nearly £1 million extra for her contract, which includes presenting the BBC Radio 2 breakfast show.
It will take her salary to almost £1.4 million, making her the second highest paid after Lineker and better-paid than her predecessor Chris Evans.
Vanessa Feltz is to get a £50,000 pay in rise, bringing her salary up to £410,000, while Fiona Bruce will see her wages rise by £195,000 to £455,000 for her various roles, including Question Time and Antiques Roadshow. However, her colleague Huw Edwards will be getting a pay cut, as will Lineker’s Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer.
BBC directorgeneral Tim Davie announced Lineker’s 23 per cent pay cut in the next contract. He said: “He has done so at a saving of nearly a quarter over his last contract.
“We are hugely honoured to have a broadcaster of such brilliance at the BBC. And this is a great example of giving audiences both the best talent and the best value.”
The 10 best-paid BBC broadcasters now includes four women – Zoe Ball, Fiona Bruce, Vanessa Feltz and Desert Island Discs presenter Lauren Laverne – alongside six men.
While three of the six men – Lineker, Huw Edwards and Alan Shearer – received pay cuts, the other three – Graham Norton, Steve Wright and BBC Northern Ireland presenter Stephen Nolan – all had their wages increased.
Sexual inequality at the BBC was highlighted when newsreader Samira Ahmed filed legal proceedings a year ago under the Equal Pay Act.
The employment tribunal found in her favour, although the settlement was never disclosed, with the BBC only publishing the salaries of those getting at least £150,000 per year.
Responding to the publication of BBC star salaries, John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, called for an overhaul of the entire funding system and for the BBC to be turned into a subscription service.
He said: “BBC salary surges for loaded luvvies fly in the face of ratepayers facing economic ruin.
“These bumper Beeb pay packets are picked from the pockets of pensioners and poor taxpayers, who are fed up of forking out for the licence fee under pain of imprisonment.
“It’s high time we axed the TV tax, introduced a subscription service and stopped taxpayers’ money going to these media millionaires.”
BBC salary surges for loaded luvvies fly in the face of ratepayers facing economic ruin
John O’Connell