Gary Lineker suggested online today he should ask for a pay rise
The BBC’s highest-paid presenter Gary Lineker today sparked a social media storm by joking that he ‘must be due a pay rise’ after 20 years presenting Match of the Day.
The former Tottenham and England forward retweeted an announcement that this season will be his twentieth on the show and added: ‘Christ! 20 years: must be due a pay rise?’
Mr Lineker, who was paid £1.75m of licence-payers money last year and marginally more the previous, is the Corporation’s highest directly-paid star.
Only two months ago the BBC announced it would be scrapping free TV licences for all but the poorest over-75s leaving 3.7 million who previously would have been eligible for a free licence having to pay.
Many on Twitter were appalled by the insensitivity of the presenter’s remark, while others were clearly amused by what they characterised as ‘fishing’ for a response.
The presenter dangled juicy bait online today for anyone upset by either his salary – more than 100 times the minimum wage – or the BBC’s decision to scrap free TV licences for the over 75s
A person earning National Minimum Wage in the UK earns £8.21 per hour, which over a year on a 37.5-hour-week is an annual salary of just over £16,000, meaning Mr Lineker earns more than one hundred times the wages of someone on NMW.
The licence fee is currently 154.50 for a colour television, which must be paid by all households regardless of how much BBC content they consume.
Mr Lineker’s salary would therefore cover the licence fee payments of 11,326 pensioners, which the BBC insists it cannot do without.
Many on Twitter were offended by the remark in light of the BBC’s poor record on gender equal pay, and the scrapping of free licences for pensioners – but others were there for the reaction
In July the BBC was slammed over a £1billion wage bill after it emerged it had increased the pay of many of its top stars at a time pensioners are being forced to cough up for their TV licence.
Gary Lineker, Chris Evans and Graham Norton remain at the top of the Beeb’s rich list, as the corporation reported handed out increases of up to £200,000 to female stars in a bid to cut its gender pay gap.
Lineker raked in £1.75million for presenting Match of Day last year, while Graham Norton earned £615,000 for his work on Radio 2, up £10,000.
The BBC’s annual report reveals its 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 pay packets were revealed just weeks after the BBC announced it is scrapping the universal free TV licence for over-75s.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance, which opposes the BBC licence fee, said: ‘After announcing that many pensioners will now be forced to pay the dreaded TV tax, you’d think the BBC would have shown more respect to taxpayers by cutting back on unnecessary spending.
‘How can the BBC justify giving so many sky-high salaries – that most licence-fee payers can only dream of – when whacking up charges on older people?’
The corporation claims it would need to find £745million a year if it didn’t axe pensioners’ free licences.
It could of course spend less.
Defending Lineker’s salary, director-general Lord Hall said: ‘Every time contracts come up we look at them, we negotiate hard with people but Gary does do an excellent job.
‘People and our audiences, when we ask them, want us to employ great people but overall our talent bill is coming down and it’s 0.5% of our overall spend… the bill is coming down, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t employ great people who entertain us, who inform us, who educate us.’
Despite the enormity of the wage bill, millions more are not included in the numbers. A loophole means salaries paid for programmes produced by independent firms, including the BBC’s own commercial department BBC Studios, are still being hidden.
MPs accused the Beeb of ‘trying to hide’ what it really pays its top stars after it emerged money earned on shows including The One Show, Countryfile, Top Gear, Eastenders and Doctor Who is not included.