Face of Nation : The BBC’s annual report has revealed its pay bill is now £1.7 billion, which is up £60 million from last year. This is despite the broadcaster making the controversial decision to stop free TV licences for the over-75s. The TaxPayers’ Alliance, which opposes the BBC licence fee, argued the corporation should lower its wage bill instead of charging pensioners.
They 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?”
Mr Lineker raked in £1.75 million for presenting Match of the Day last year, while Mr Norton was paid £615,000 for his weekly show on Radio 2.
Even though he left the BBC in December, Chris Evans was also still the second highest earner on a salary of £1.25 million – although this was down £400,000.
The BBC defended its decision to cut pensioners’ free TV licences by claiming it would need to find £745 million a year otherwise.
This is despite up to 75 people at the BBC now earning more than £150,000, figures from the report showed.
Director General of the BBC Tony Hall defended former footballer Mr Lineker’s salary.
He said today: “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.”
But many people posted their disgust online at the figures in the annual report.
One person tweeted: “Last month the BBC announced that over-75s will no longer have access to a free TV licence from 2020.
“It will take the licence fees of 44,300 pensioners to pay these salaries.”
Another social media used said: “The BBC is spinning the salary increases as being about more women getting higher salaries (a good thing).
“But it makes me laugh how tone-deaf they are, given that free licences for pensioners are being taken away. How that justify the high pay…is beyond me.”
The BBC also handed out pay increases of £200,000 to female TV stars in an attempt to balance its gender pay gap.
Female stars including Zoe Ball, Vanessa Feltz, Sara Cox, Jo Whiley, Gabby Logan, Rachel Burden, Laura Kuennsberg and more handed pay rises of between £20,000 and £200,000.
But senior presenters of the corporation including John Humphrys, Jeremy Vine and Nicky Campbell have had their salaries slashed by up to £140,000.
Meanwhile, Strictly Come Dancing presenter Tess Daly and the judges, along with the stars of The One Show, EastEnders and Casualty do not have to reveal their pay because they are made by private company BBC Studios.
