BBC wage probe finds ‘no evidence of gender bias in pay decision-making’ as female presenters slam review
A PROBE into the wage gap at the BBC has found “no evidence of gender bias in pay decision-making” in findings which will incense female presenters.
Many women at the corporation had already said they have "no confidence" in the review, and that they have been "excluded from the process" which was finally published today.
The report said there was a "lack of clarity and openness about the basis for pay decisions" at the broadcaster, and made a number of sweeping recommendations.
But it added that PricewaterhouseCoopers, which carried out the review, had found "no evidence of gender bias in pay decision-making".
In a release, the corporation said they had also "set out a five-point plan to help create a fairer and more equal BBC".
This will include “substantial pay cuts for some men and increases for some male and female presenters”.
Broadcasters John Humphrys, Huw Edwards, Nicky Campbell, Jon Sopel, Nick Robinson and Jeremy Vine are among the big names who have reduced their salaries.
And it is being reported that the BBC has proposed a £320,000 cap on its news presenters' salaries after an outcry over gender pay inequality.
It comes after women at the BBC have said they had faced "veiled threats" while trying to broach the subject of equal pay.
Its China editor Carrie Gracie resigned from her role in protest at inequalities – she and the director-general Tony Hall will appear in front of MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee tomorrow.
Responding the report Lord Hall said today: "The BBC believes in equality. No one should be paid differently because of their gender. The BBC has a special role representing Britain.
“That is why we need to be, and want to be, an exemplar on gender pay, and equal pay.”
He added: "Today's report does not find evidence of gender bias in decision-making, but it shows that we have real and important issues to tackle, particularly in some areas of news and current affairs, and I'm determined to get it right.
“The plans we're setting out today go further and are more important steps in modernising the BBC and making it fairer.”
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Last year, a list of the Beeb's biggest earners, topped by Radio 2's Chris Evans on more than £2million, revealed a gap in the pay-packets of its best-known male and female stars.
The MPs preparing to question Lord Hall have said there is evidence the BBC has a "deeper cultural problem" with gender pay than even the gap revealed in its list of top-earning stars suggests.
A previous pay report, commissioned by the BBC, concluded there was no evidence of systemic gender discrimination, but female staff said it did not "give a true picture of pay inequality" at the corporation.