BBC pay: Zoe Ball gets £1MILLION more as Huw Edwards and Alan Shearer’s wages cut after gender pay gap backlash

ZOE Ball has bagged £1million more pay this year while Huw Edwards and Alan Shearer's wages have been cut after the BBC faced gender pay gap backlash.

Ball, 49, has got a new salary of £1.36m - despite losing a million listeners on her BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show after taking over from Chris Evans.

It emerged as the BBC revealed it's top earners for this year - with Gary Lineker also taking a pay cut from his top salary, which will be £1.35million.

The Match of the Day host, 59, earned £1.75m for 2019/20 but will take a 23 per cent pay cut of £405k for 2021 and beyond after agreeing a new five-year deal with the Beeb.

Huw Edwards and Alan Shearer also took pay cuts, the figures revealed today.

Confirming Lineker's new deal and pay cut, BBC director-general Tim Davie said: "He has done so at a saving of nearly a quarter over his last contract.

"And this is a great example of giving audiences both the best talent and the best value."

The number of women in the top ten paid has now risen from six to seven, with Fiona Bruce also getting nearly a £200,000 pay rise.

Ball's pay has soared from £370,000 last year to £1.36million - nine times that of the Prime Ministers'.

She took over the morning slot from Chris Evans in January 2019, and has also been a fan favourite on Strictly's spin off - It Takes Two - since 2011.

Davie defended Ball's pay after she lost millions of listeners in the first year in her new role, saying it was a "punchy" market.

"Zoe is absolutely a broadcaster at the top of her game. She's delivering over eight million listeners," he said.

The BBC has come under fire for the gender pay gap within the corporation- with bombshell reports showing many female stars were paid less than their male counterparts, leading to ­several threatening to quit.

In 2017 the ratio of men to women earning more than £150,000 was 76:24, with it shifting to 55:45 last year as the BBC worked to address the rift.

This year the overall pay of women has gone up by £1.32million, with the men's salaries just rising by £125,000.

Desert Island Discs presenter Lauren Laverne is now one of the big earners, after pocketing £305,000 last year.

The BBC has revealed 76 presenters on more money than Boris Johnson, who is paid £150,000.

It comes as the OAP TV licence row rages on, with the Beeb confirming in July it would plough on with a plan to end free TV licences for most over-75s.

There are now two stars earning more than £1million, one between £500k and £1million and 73 others between £150,000 and £500,000.

The Beeb says the cost makes up only 10 per cent of the total creative internal content.

But the revelation is likely to cause more anger amongst campaigners trying to stop the corporation forcing the elderly to pay for their licence.

New director-general Tim Davie vowed to cut the amount of people employed by the BBC, but this report shows the numbers are virtually the same.

Pensioner's groups demanded the huge pay packets get slashed instead of the elderly being asked to contribute to licence fees.

'WARPED SENSE OF PRIORITIES'

Dennis Reed, from Silver Voices, said: "This increase shows a warped sense of priorities by the BBC in a time of difficulty.

"I would like to see them giving equal priority to poorer pensioners who struggle to pay their licence fee."

Campaigners have told over-60s to cancel their payments in solidarity with over 75s instead of offering to set up monthly instalments.

The BBC agreed to make over-75s exempt from the fee back in 2015 after an agreement was hammered out with the Government.

The subsidy will soon only be offered to over-75s on pension credit – which includes those on a weekly income below £173.75 and couples on less than £265.20.

Last year we told how BBC stars on huge salaries were paid £11million even more than 2018 - with the number of executives earning in excess of £150,000 rising from 92 to 106.

The Beeb revealed in 2019 the total wage bill for its big on-air stars reached £158million, up from £147million the previous year.

But some top stars' pay is excluded from the annual reports thanks to a loophole in pay rules.

It also comes after the Beeb was blasted for choosing to remove the lyrics of Land of Hope and Glory and Rule, Britannia! from the Last Night of the Proms.