Furious female BBC staff have claimed that the corporation’s long-awaited report into pay inequality between the sexes will be a whitewash – before it is even published.
The broadcaster has been in chaos since the summer when it was forced to publish the salaries of its highest earners, which exposed a yawning gap between pay for its male and female presenters.
The BBC has been trying to stave off a full-scale rebellion by female staff by promising to fix inequalities when the ‘comprehensive analysis’ of salaries is complete.
However, BBC Women – a group of 130 female producers and broadcasters backed by star presenters Mishal Husain, Victoria Derbyshire and Jane Garvey – has written to director general Lord Hall distancing themselves from its findings.
However, BBC Women – a group of 130 female producers and broadcasters backed by star presenters Mishal Husain, Victoria Derbyshire (left) and Jane Garvey (right)
The presenters have written to director general Lord Hall distancing themselves from its findings. Pictured: Mishal Husain
They claim the review being carried out by management consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers has not consulted female staff and so will not represent their views when it is published at the end of the month.
In a letter seen by the Mail, one well-known BBC newsreader said: ‘The lack of transparency and the narrow scope mean staff are not likely to trust the findings. We cannot find anyone covered by the review whom PwC has spoken to.’
Members of BBC Women are due to meet Lord Hall and deputy director general Anne Bulford this week to set out their position.
A previous audit of BBC salaries compiled by PwC and the law firm Eversheds, which was published in October, found that it pays men an average of 9.3 per cent more than women, and that they are far more likely to occupy senior positions.
Earlier this month, Carrie Gracie – who earned £135,000 a year – resigned as the BBC’s China editor in protest at what she called a ‘secretive and illegal’ pay regime.
But last week the BBC’s female staff were said to be close to walking out when an off-air recording was leaked of Radio 4’s Today programme presenter John Humphrys mocking Miss Gracie’s pay row to North America editor Jon Sopel.
Humphrys earns between £600,000 and £649,000 while Sopel is paid between £200,000 and £249,999.
The BBC commissioned PwC in September to conduct the major study of presenter pay at all levels – not just the 96 highest-paid revealed in the summer.
Just last week, director of news Fran Unsworth defended the review, saying: ‘We are conducting a comprehensive analysis of presenter pay.
Members of BBC Women are due to meet Lord Hall and deputy director general Anne Bulford this week to set out their position. They are pictured answering questions in front of the Education and Culture Committee at the Scottish Parliament in 2016
Everyone at the BBC has wanted to do this as quickly as possible, but equally, we need to get it right. PwC are working with us to ensure an objective external assessment.’
However, female staff at the BBC expect the final report to paint an overly flattering picture of the gender pay divide.
The newsreader – who the Mail has decided not to name – wrote: ‘All of the various reviews and audits seem to have been selective about which roles they include and too broad to highlight pay inequalities between men and women doing the same work.’
A BBC spokesman said last night: ‘This is a complex and detailed piece of work and we’re determined to get it right.
‘We’ve held meetings with unions and others and engaged with female presenters with more meetings scheduled.
‘People should judge us on the quality of the report, and PwC’s work, alongside the quality of our response and the actions that we will take as a result.’
Official sources added that PwC’s study was not ‘about talking with staff’ but that it had nonetheless been running forums for presenters and other staff and feeding reports from those into the final review.