Continuing pay discrimination at BBC is 'extremely depressing'

23 MAY 2019

A BBC manager has turned down a promotion after finding out she would be paid £12,000 less than her male counterpart. 

In an email to her colleagues, Karen Martin wrote: "Despite being awarded the same job, on the same day, after the same board, during the same recruitment process, BBC News asked me to accept a considerably lower salary than my male counterpart.

"I've been assured our roles and responsibilities are the same. I've also been told my appointment was 'very well deserved'. It's just that I'm worth £12,000 less."

The Fawcett Society Chief Executive Sam Smethers commented:

"This is extremely depressing. The BBC is under investigation for pay discrimination then compounds the problem by repeating it.

"Nearly fifty years on from the Equal Pay Act women all over the UK are still having to fight for their basic right to be paid equally for doing equal work. That this is still happening at our leading broadcaster even after Carrie Gracie's win against them reveals a culture of complacency. This has to change."

The EHRC announced an investigation into equal pay at the BBC in March following complaints that female employees were not being paid equally with men. The investigation is due to conclude at the end of 2019.