BAD BEEB
BBC bosses under fire as just five of top 20 highest paid stars are women – and Gary Lineker tops the bill again
THE BBC is facing a backlash after revealing that just five of its top 20 most highest-paid stars are women, despite the corporation’s efforts to address its significant on-air gender pay gap.
Three women are now in the top ten earners at the Beeb, after bosses slashed male talent’s wages significantly.
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However, just two more women make up the top 20, according to “rich list” figures the corporation published this morning.
It means that despite the bosses projecting that by 2020 they will have a 55/45 split of earners over £150,000, the situation is still hugely unbalanced.
The bill for the stars' pay packets has gone up by a staggering £11m - despite the fact they've slashed the free licence fee for the over 75s.
The best-paid woman at the BBC is now Radio 2 Breakfast Show host Zoe Ball, whose official pay for the last year were listed as up to £374,999 – when in reality they will top £1million.
Claudia Winkleman earned the same amount for her radio work, but her wage for Strictly Come Dancing is not included as it is made by the BBC’s commercial arm.
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Also in the top ten is Vanessa Feltz, who trousered up to £359,999 in the last twelve months.
Last year there were no women at all in the top ten.
The top earning man remains Match of the Day host Gary Lineker, who refused to take a pay cut and took home £1.75million.
Other well-paid blokes include Irish host Graham Norton, who was paid more than £610,000 for his radio work alone, and newsreader Huw Edwards, who took a £30,000 pay cut to earn £490,000.
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Significant slashes were also made to a series of high-profile men’s pay packets, including Steve Wright, and John Humphreys, whose pay was lowered by more than £100,000.
The other two women in the top 20 were radio host Lauren Laverne and sports presenter Gabby Logan, who saw their pay increase by £80,000 and £60,000 respectively.
The full list of those on-air talent earning more than the £150,000 cut-off contains 75 names – up from 64 last year.
Critics argue that the BBC has become less transparent since spinning off its TV production arm, which makes shows such as EastEnders and Strictly Come Dancing and merging it with BBC Worldwide.
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As a result the BBC’s list also only counts money directly paid from the BBC licence fee.
This means it does not include payments to staff through independent production companies that make programmes for the BBC, or payments from BBC Worldwide.
It does not include stars such as Sherlock’s Benedict Cumberbatch, Question Time’s David Dimbleby, Have I Got News For You’s Ian Hislop, Sir David Attenborough or Alan Sugar.
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None of the judges or contestants on one of the BBC's biggest shows, Strictly, also don't feature on the list.
In total their spend on the stars has risen by £2million in total, going from £19.7million to £21.7million.
Meanwhile the number of executives earning in excess of £150,000 has risen from 92 to 106.
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