No women in BBC’S 12 best-paid presenters

THE BBC’S 12 best-paid stars are men, according to figures released yesterday, dashing the corporation’s hopes of consigning the gender pay row to the past.

The list of presenters earning £150,000 or more features 64 names, of whom 22 are women – a slight fall on the previous year.

Only three of the 25 highest earners are female on a list headed by Gary Lineker, who was paid £1.75 million-£1.76million last year for hosting Match of the Day, FA Cup coverage and Sports Personality of the Year. He is followed by Chris Evans, who received £1.6million-£1.7million for the Radio 2 Breakfast Show.

The BBC announced recently that Huw Edwards and John Humphrys had agreed to take cuts. But Edwards’ pay remains over the £500,000 mark, while Humphrys received at least £400,000 for the Today programme.

BBC sources said both had agreed to accept further reductions. New entries include Ian Wright, football pundit and 5 Live host (£170,000-£179,999); Amol Rajan, the BBC’S media editor (£200,000-£209,999); Tina Daheley, of Radio 1 and BBC Breakfast (£150,000-159,999); and Mary Berry (£190,000-£199,999). Emily Maitlis earns £220,000-£229,999 for presenting Newsnight, while Sarah Montague, formerly of the Today programme, earns £160,000-£169,999. Other women who received pay rises include Katya Adler, Europe editor (£170,000£179,999); Rachel Burden, presenter of 5 Live’s breakfast show (£150,000£159,999); and Jane Garvey, presenter of Woman’s Hour (£150,000-£159,999).

‘This list shows how far the BBC still has to go in valuing women and men equally’

BBC Women said: “This list shows how far the BBC still has to go in valuing women and men equally for their work.”

The highest-paid woman is Claudia Winkleman, on £370,000-£379,999. The other two women in the top 25 are radio presenters Vanessa Feltz (£330,000-£339,999) and Lauren Laverne (£230,000-£239,999).

Lord Hall of Birkenhead, the directorgeneral, said that BBC Studios must be “treated as any other” company. According to projections, the gender split next year will be down to 60:40 in favour of men.