Mind the gap: BBC chief plans to pay women more after salary backlash

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BBC presenter Claudia Winkleman is the top-paid woman at the broadcaster, but she only ranks eighth overall, and is the only woman among the 10 top earners. Photo: BBC

Published: 2:45pm, 6 Sep 2017Updated: 9:34pm, 6 Sep 2017

Tony Hall, the director-general of the BBC, is to unveil plans to tackle the gender pay gap at the broadcaster and the amount it pays TV and radio presenters.

Hall is expected to address staff at the BBC on Wednesday morning about pay after a summer dogged by controversy for the corporation.

The BBC boss is understood to have authorised accountancy firm PwC and law firm Eversheds Sutherland to do an audit of how much the corporation pays its staff with a view to eradicating disparities, potentially through pay cuts for some stars.

PwC is already conducting a review for the BBC about the disparities between World Service staff and the rest of the news department – which is another major pay row at the broadcaster – but the work of the firm is now thought to be wider this.

Chris Evans, the top-paid broadcaster at the BBC, earns more than £2 million. Photo: AP

A BBC source told the Telegraph: “Tony and the executive team are keen to do something pretty big and dramatic. It’s going to be open, transparent and independent.”

The corporation is facing an internal and external backlash over pay after it published the salaries of its highest paid on-air stars in July. The BBC revealed that Chris Evans, Gary Lineker and Graham Norton were its top earners – with Evans earning more than £2 million (US$2.6 million).