BBC braced for gender pay scrutiny when it reveals stars' salaries this week
The BBC will this week publicly reveal how much it pays its highest earners – and the figures could show evidence of a gender pay gap within the corporation, according to reports.
Political editor Laura Kuenssberg is expected to be on the list on Wednesday
The Sunday Telegraph cites sources as saying the list of the top-paid talent will have “outstanding omissions” that will expose the fact that women are not being paid as much as men in the same jobs.
The corporation can expect to be taken to task by culture secretary Karen Bradley if the claims prove to be true, the paper adds.
The salary details will be closely scrutinised both outside and inside the corporation, as high-profile talent such as Gary Lineker, Laura Kuenssberg and Fiona Bruce find out how their pay packets measure up to their peers.
As the former News at Ten presenter Peter Sissons told the Sunday Times: “Some of the biggest egos in the land are there and they will discover what the other big egos are paid.”
The disclosure of BBC staff earning more than £150,000 a year follows sustained government pressure for the corporation to be more transparent on pay.
Presenter Andrew Marr, who is expected to appear on the list when it is published on Wednesday, has said the pay revelations will be “uncomfortable for all of us”.
And as Craig Oliver, the former No 10 communications chief, said on Twitter, the BBC will also have to confront the delicate dilemma of how it reports on the news itself. “As a former BBC editor, I can imagine the agonies over how this is going to be reported & crucially who does it,” he wrote.
Last week it was reported that BBC staff are to see an overhaul of their terms and conditions of employment which would see overtime overtime curtailed and a generous allowance for employees forced to work unsocial hours amended.