BBC must end 'invidious, opaque decision making' on wages, MPs demand in damning equal pay report

The BBC must end its culture of "invidious, opaque decision-making" in relation to wages, a committee of MPs have demanded in a damning report probing equal pay discrimination at the organisation.

Calling on the BBC to "publicly acknowledge" it has a problem with pay discrimination, the Commons culture committee said bosses were failing to live up to their duty under the Equality Act to advance equal opportunities for women.

In their highly-critical report, MPs said the publicly-funded broadcaster should now set a deadline for resolving pay discrimination issues raised by staff, adding that evidence presented to their inquiry suggests women working at the BBC in comparable jobs to men earn far less.

MPs on the committee, who also reprimanded the BBC for failing to attend its evidence session, noted: "As a public sector broadcaster, the institution should be setting an example for other organisations. But its approach has been extremely poor.

"The corporation was unable to give a good reason for why and how pay discrimination has been left unchallenged for so long."

They added that compensation must also be offered for presenters who were "coerced" into setting up "life-altering" Personal Service Companies resulting in bills of "hundreds of thousands of pounds in unpaid income tax and national insurance contributions".

The committee's call for evidence was issued after the resignation of the BBC's China Editor, Carrie Gracie, over the issue of equal pay at the organisation earlier this year. She was commended by the MPs for using her "protracted and distressing ordeal" to highlight problems for other women employed by the broadcaster.

Damian Collins, the chair of the Culture Committee in Westminster and Conservative MP, said the BBC acts as a "beacon in public life" and has a higher level of duty to advance equality of opportunity for its staff.

"But this it has failed to do," he continued. "The BBC must take urgent action now if it's to restore its reputation on equal pay and win back the trust of staff. There must be a reduction in the time taken to resolve grievances."

The MPs said that while the BBC had gone "some way" to improving pay transparency with the publication of the salaries of individuals earning over £150,000 last year, a more transparent structure across the board was needed for the organisation to "repair its reputation on equal pay".

They continued: "The BBC pay structure lacks central oversight and allows too much managerial discretion over salaries. Pay decisions for senior positions appear to be made on an ad-hoc basis... The BBC's insistence that Carrie Gracie's underpayment was 'inadvertent' points towards a concerning lack of oversight from senior BBC officials, particularly as there were only four international news editors at the time.

"This culture of invidious, opaque decision making must end. In order to prevent misuses of managerial discretion, the BBC must look at the system by which it makes pay decisions.

"It must ensure that sufficient oversight takes place, and that decisions are based on transparent, objective criteria rather than on the basis of indvidual personalities, and that managers making the decisions understand the equal pay legal framework within which they must operate."

The report adds: "The BBC's handling of both equal pay and the [Personal Service Companies] PSCs has been extremely disappointing.

"It has failed to properly consult with its staff and has repeatedly failed to take proactive steps, instead relying upon their staff to come forward and raise concerns. This has resulted in a crisis of trusts which urgently needs to be addressed by the corporation."

Responding to the report, a BBC spokesperson said: "While we still have more to do, much of this report is already out of date. Recent disclosures by other media organisations show that the BBC's gender pay gap is amongst the smallest and well below the national average.

"But we do hold ourselves to a higher standard. That is why our action on pay has seen the BBC make real progress in addressing equal pay cases; carry out an independent audit of equal pay overseen by a former Court of Appeal judge; introduce independent oversight so that disputes can be resolved; take clear steps to rebalance top talent pay; reform our pay structure to ensure fairness and give an unprecedented level of transparency and information about pay ranges for all staff; and, set up independent reviews to see what further steps should be taken on pay transparency.

"That's why so many colleagues have contributed to projects we're doing - on gender, ethnicity, disability, LGBT and socio-economic diversity. We all want to make this a great place to work, where people are properly rewarded for their expertise and experience."