Gary Lineker, Chris Evans and Graham Norton remain at the top of the BBC’s rich list despite the corporation handing out huge pay rises of up to £200,000 to women stars, it was revealed today.
Lineker raked in £1.75million for presenting Match of Day last year, down by £5,000 on last year, while Graham Norton earned £620,000 for his work on Radio 2, up £10,000. Despite leaving BBC radio in December, Chris Evans was still the second-highest earner on £1.25million, down £40,000.
For the first time ever, women were in the top 10, with Zoe Ball, Claudia Winkleman, both earning up to £375,000, and Vanessa Feltz, who is on up to £360,000, among the top earners.
The BBC has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds of licence fee-payers’ cash on increasing the wages of women, including Sara Cox, Jo Whiley, Lauren Laverne and Emily Maitlis, while slashing the salaries of senior men.
The astonishing salaries were revealed as critics slam the BBC for scrapping the universal free TV licence for over-75s – with many saying the corporation should be cutting pay rather than charging pensioners.
Its annual report reveals the BBC’s total pay bill is now £1,078million, up £60million from last year. The bill for top stars hit £159million this year, up by £11million on last year.
The BBC’s annual report is the first salary disclosures since the corporation sparked outrage by announcing it is scrapping the universal free TV licence for over-75s. The corporation claims it would need to find £745million a year if it didn’t carry out the move.
A total 75 people at the BBC now earn over £150,000, up from 64 last year, figures from the report show.
The Corporation says it is narrowing the gender pay gap after uproar among female stars who learned men were being paid much for for doing the same job.
Jo Whiley was given £100,000 more this year – up from £170,000 to £275,000. New Radio 2 Breakfast Show host Zoë Ball is earning £370,000, up from less than £150,000, and Sara Cox, who was vying for the top job on BBC radio, is up from £100,000 to £239,000.
Zoe Ball’s pay will rise significantly next year. She has only hosted the radio show since January after taking over from Chris Evans.
A number of female news presenters also got huge windfalls, with Sophie Raworth now on more than £265,000, up from £205,000, Fiona Bruce on more than £255,000, up from around £185,000, and Emily Maitlis on more than £260,000, up from around £225,000.
A number of high-profile men dropped out of the top 10, including Jeremy Vine, John Humphrys, Nicky Campbell and Nick Grimshaw. All four have seen their pay cut.
Jeremy Vine has had £140,000 chopped from his salary while John Humphrys has lost £100,000, Steve Wright’s pay dropped by £80,000 and Nicky Campbell is earning £60,000 less last year.
Despite the pay cuts for men, the huge budget for salaries will anger pensioners facing being stripped of their free licences.000000
Stats released today show a number of women stars seeing pay increases while male presenters endured pay cuts. The figures above show the increases and decreases, but men still enjoy higher pay than their female counterparts
BBC chairman Sir David Clementi defended the controversial decision over TV licence fees for the over-75s, insisting it is ‘the fairest one possible’.
Sir David said: ‘I truly believe the decision we have made to fund free licences for the over-75s in receipt of Pension Credit is the fairest one possible, fairest to the poorest pensioners and fairest to all licence fee payers.’
Free licences will be restricted to over-75s who claim Pension Credit from June 1 2020.
The corporation has faced widespread criticism over its decision.
Lord Hall said: ‘The decision to continue funding free TV licences for over-75s on Pension Credit makes it all the more important that the BBC does everything possible to help itself financially – that’s why the record levels of efficiency and higher commercial returns are so important in ensuring we have a strong BBC for the future.’
It comes after BBC director General Lord Hall defended high pay for top stars, insisting the public was prepared to pay for ‘talented and entertaining’.
Lord Hall wrote in a blog last night: ‘They would earn significantly more elsewhere – and recent departures to commercial rivals show this argument isn’t hollow.
‘The simple truth is we have spent more than ever on content, but the amount we have spent proportionally on talent has come down.
‘But more importantly, whenever we ask the public whether they want big stars on the BBC they say yes. They say yes because they are talented and entertaining. They also say yes as it means they are getting big value from the BBC.’
Today, Lord Hall said the figures shows the BBC had ‘turned a corner on gender pay’.
He added: ‘When we published the figures for top talent, there was a 75:25 split between men and women. The projection for 2019/20 is now 55:45. This is significant change. The task is not complete, we are not complacent, but we are well on our way.’