BBC senior managers from minority backgrounds are more highly paid than their peers, official data reveals.
Figures from the Corporation’s annual report show that ethnic minority, LGBT, disabled and female senior bosses get paid more than people who are not from these categories.
This has sparked criticism that, despite the BBC having a commitment to equal pay, it is now overseeing ‘reverse pay gaps’.
The BBC’s target for ‘diverse leadership’ for 2021-2023 aimed at making sure 50 per cent of senior positions were held by women. At least 20 per cent were to be held by black, Asian or minority ethnic staff and 12 per cent by disabled workers.
According to the Telegraph, figures from the most recent BBC annual report show that bosses who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender earn 15.6 per cent more in salary than those not from this background.
Those senior bosses who are from a black, Asian and other ethnic minority background got a median average 12.6 per cent more than white peers.
Disabled bosses in top roles got 8.4 per cent more than those who are not disabled, while female bosses in senior roles got 5.7 more than male counterparts.
Elliot Keck, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance told the Telegraph: ‘Licence fee payers will be dismayed by these reverse pay gaps.
‘Auntie’s obsession with diversity, equality and inclusion has resulted in the very discrimination that it was supposed to protect against. The BBC needs to foster a culture of meritocracy, not one of virtue-signalling.’
A source at the corporation said the type of pay gaps being highlighted, shown among senior managers, were not replicated in the overall workforce.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘The BBC is committed to fair and equal pay for all, and all appointments are made on merit.
‘An external Equal Pay Audit recently concluded that there was no evidence of systemic bias in our pay approach or policies.
‘We continue to monitor our pay gaps closely and do expect to see small fluctuations year-on-year, and we’d advise against the selective use of figures.’