BBC star salaries: Gary Lineker still BBC's top earner despite pay cut

Gary Lineker remains the BBC's top earner despite agreeing to a pay cut of just under £400,000, the broadcaster has revealed in its annual report.

Last year it was announced the Match of the Day host had agreed to his wages being reduced.

Tuesday's report showed he earned £1.36m in the 2020/21 financial year, down from £1.75m.

Radio 2's Zoe Ball, who also took a pay cut after offering to do so, is still the second-highest paid star on £1.13m.

Last year she earned the same as Lineker's earnings in the latest financial year - £1.36m.

Her current salary is actually £980,000, a reduction of 28% from 2019/2020 - the £1.13m figure takes into account her wages before she took the pay cut towards the end of last year.

The wage bill for all on-air talent overall has been cut by 10% to £130m - down from £144m last year. Wages for broadcasters earning more than £150,000 have been reduced by £2.2m.

The BBC's director general Tim Davie said most of the renegotiations about pay with top stars had been "mutual and constructive".

"Clearly, as a management team, we want to get more value and we're willing to make tough decisions to that extent," he said.

"But I think these conversations have all been constructive - as with Zoe Ball when she came forward and said she wanted to adjust her salary. I think everyone is absolutely with the programme on that one."

He added that "we should maintain restraint in pay across the top talent" and would "continue to look for efficiency" savings in the future.

But Conservative MP Julian Knight, who is the chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (DCMS), said: "It's welcome that some of the BBC's top-earners have agreed to 'significant reductions' in their salaries this year. Yet despite taking a pay cut, Gary Lineker is still earning £1.36 million."

Five of the six top earners - including Steve Wright, Huw Edwards and Question Time anchor Fiona Bruce - now earn less than they did last year. Radio 5 Live presenter Stephen Nolan, in joint-fifth place, saw his salary increased by £15,000.

Four women - Ball, Bruce, Radio 2's Vanessa Feltz and Lauren Laverne of 6 Music - make the top 10, the same number as last year.

There are 31 women on the list and 40 men, a split of 44%/56%, despite the previous director general Tony Hall pledging that the gap would be closed by 2020.

Again like last year, all of the top 10 earners are white. While 20% of all presenters earning over £150,000 are from ethnic minority backgrounds, up from 18% last year, the overall staff pay gap for minorities has widened slightly.

Graham Norton, who left his Radio 2 show in December 2020, dropped out of the top 10 entirely. The star earned £150,000 in 2020/2021.

He also fronts the BBC's Eurovision coverage - although the event was cancelled last year due to the pandemic.

Covid cancellations tell part of the story when it comes to savings - for example, Sue Barker and John McEnroe didn't cover Wimbledon after the event was pulled last year.

Mr Davie said there had been "quite a lot" of "little reductions" because most major sporting, cultural and political events did not take place last year - but that most pay cuts were "structural".

Since 2017, the BBC has been made to publish the names of those earning more than £150,000 each year, a move instigated by the government, and Lineker has topped the list on each occasion.

However, many stars do not appear on the list because the corporation's commercial arm, BBC Studios, does not have to publish its talent spend.

Norton's TV chat show, for instance, does not appear on the report for that reason.

Claudia Winkelman also disappears from the list, as Strictly Come Dancing isn't counted either. She replaced Norton on Saturday mornings on Radio 2 in February, so that will be reflected in next year's list.

The number of senior leaders at the BBC is down from 253 to 241, the report also says.

This annual report covers an exceptional year. Despite the usual supply of controversy, from the Proms to Lord Dyson's report on the Princess Diana interview, there are deep trends within this pandemic year which show the BBC to be pursuing a clear strategy under its new leadership.

First, reach: 6.1bn streams on iPlayer represents 28% growth, an extraordinary performance. Average time spent with the BBC each also grew. In the current global market, that is remarkable.

Second, leanness: Tim Davie, director general since September, is a commercial creature, and wants efficiency. This has caused ructions and even distress within the BBC, with many staff leaving or having to re-apply for jobs. But it has also led to big reductions in overall public sector staff, and also the wage bill for on-air stars.

Finally, education, the third pillar of the BBC's Reithian mission to "inform, educate, and entertain", has renewed its centrality to the corporation. Consumption of educational programming has soared, fortifying the connection between the BBC and young Britons.

Will they pay for a licence fee? They might not, which means the pressure on the BBC's commercial arm, which has ambitious targets, will grow. But ahead of negotiations with the government next year, Davie and Richard Sharp, the chairman since February, can point to clear evidence of continued high demand for what the BBC does.

Mr Knight called for the BBC to "commit to full transparency on its talent bill and drop the smoke and mirrors approach" following the publication of the report.

"There remains a concerning lack of transparency because a number of top-earning stars are paid through BBC Studios and their salaries don't appear here."

However, in an earlier press briefing, Mr Davie said it was "absolutely appropriate" that the broadcaster did not reveal BBC Studios pay and that he would "defend robustly" the current system.

BBC chairman Richard Sharp pointed to the corporation's work during the Covid-19 pandemic, saying: "During a profound trauma for the nation, almost overnight we reconfigured all the BBC's output around the most urgent needs of the country. The speed and the agility of the response was exceptional, and they continue to demonstrate very clearly the enduring importance of the BBC is core mission to inform, educate and entertain."

He warned about "super inflation" in production with competition from global giants, saying: "The cost of some of our biggest series have more than doubled.

"Yet despite these pressures, the BBC has proved itself to be resilient and relevant and competitive."

Nine out of 10 adults use the BBC every week, and they spend an average of 18 hours and two minutes watching, listening or reading - up from 17 hours 45 minutes last year.

However, those figures fall markedly for younger audiences. Overall, 80% of people aged between 16 and 34 used the BBC every week, falling to 77% for under-16s.

Among the 16-34 age group, 51% watched BBC TV every week and 47% listened to BBC radio.

The BBC's total workforce has reduced by over 1,200 - that's a 6% decrease.

BBC Studios - the corporation's commercial arm - suffered a drop in sales of 10% and profits were down 17%, although those figures were due to production pauses and constraints during the pandemic.

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