
The BBC was slammed over its £1billion wage bill yesterday after it emerged it has increased the pay of many of its top stars at a time pensioners are being forced to cough up for their TV licence.

Gary Lineker, Chris Evans and Graham Norton remain at the top of the Beeb's rich list, as the corporation hands out increases of up to £200,000 to women stars in a bid to cut its gender pay gap.

Lineker raked in £1.75million for presenting Match of Day last year, while Graham Norton earned £615,000 for his work on Radio 2, up £10,000. Despite leaving BBC radio in December, Chris Evans was still the second-highest earner on £1.25million, down £400,000.

The BBC's annual report reveals its total pay bill is now £1,078million, up £60million from last year. The bill for top stars hit £159million this year, up by £11million on last year.

The astonishing pay packets were revealed just weeks after the BBC announced it is scrapping the universal free TV licence for over-75s.

Critics of the broadcaster accused it of being 'tone deaf' today, insisting the corporation should be cutting its bloated wage bill rather than charging pensioners.

There was further fury after MPs slammed a loophole that allows the Corporation to conceal millions more they are paying their stars for programmes produced by independent companies.

The TaxPayers' Alliance, which opposes the BBC licence fee, 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?'

Gary Lineker, who earned £1.75million last year, Graham Norton, who increased his pay to more than £615,000, and Chris Evans remain the top three highest paid stars at the BBC. Evans earned £1.25million before he left Radio 2 in December

Zoe Ball, Claudia Winkleman and Vanessa Feltz became the first women to enter the BBC's top-10 highest paid this year. Ball and Winkleman both earned up to £375,000 while Feltz is on up to £360,000

The announcement on the high wage bill left critics of the corporation unimpressed at a time pensioners are being told they'll have to start paying for a TV licence again

The corporation claims it would need to find £745million a year if it didn't axe pensioners' free licences.

Today's annual report revealed:

Three women are now in the top 10 earners at the BBC for the first time - and 75 people at the BBC now earn more than £150,000 - up from 64 last year;

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 after gender pay gap row;

But senior men including John Humphrys, Jeremy Vine and Nicky Campbell have had they salaries slashed by up to £140,000;

Strictly presenter Tess Daly and the judges, as well as stars of The One Show, EastEnders, Casualty and other soaps don't have to reveal their pay because they are made by private company BBC Studios;

The BBC makes £3.69billion from the licence fee, down slightly from last year, but the broadcaster's official total pay bill is currently just over £1billion, up £60million from last year, after total staff rose by 1,000 to 21,431;

Lord Hall insists the BBC cannot afford to pay for free TV licences for over-75s despite the Beeb's wage bill rising £60m - and says it is up to the Government to find the money;

A total 75 people at the BBC now earn over £150,000, up from 64 last year, figures from the report show.

Defending Lineker's salary, director-general Lord Hall 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.'

Despite the enormity of the wage bill, there are still millions more the BBC is paying its stars not included in yesterday's numbers.

A loophole means salaries paid for programmes produced by independent firms, including the BBC's own commercial department BBC Studios, are still being hidden.

MPs accused the Beeb of 'trying to hide' what it really pays its top stars after it emerged money earned on shows including The One Show, Countryfile, Top Gear, Eastenders and Doctor Who is not included.

A further £5.2million of presenter Graham Norton's salary was missing from yesterday's list, reports The Mirror.

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen told the newspaper: 'I'm not surprised the BBC are trying to hide what they're paying their so-called talent by putting these huge salaries through BBC Studios, especially given they're now hitting the over-75s for a £500million tax hike by abandoning their pledge to maintain the concessional licence fee.'

The BBC has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds of licence fee-payers' cash on increasing the wages of women, including those paid to Sara Cox, Jo Whiley, Lauren Laverne and Emily Maitlis, while slashing the salaries of senior men.

For the first time ever, women were in the top 10, with Zoe Ball, Claudia Winkleman, both earning up to £375,000, and Vanessa Feltz, who is on up to £360,000, among the top earners.

Stats released today show a number of women stars seeing pay increases while male presenters endured pay cuts. The figures above show the increases and decreases, but men still enjoy higher pay than their female counterparts

The corporation says it is narrowing the gender pay gap after uproar among female stars who learned men were being paid much for for doing the same job.

Jo Whiley was given £100,000 more this year - up from £170,000 to £275,000. New Radio 2 Breakfast Show host Zoë Ball is earning £370,000, up from less than £150,000, and Sara Cox, who was vying for the top job on BBC radio, is up from £100,000 to £239,000.

Zoe Ball's pay will rise significantly next year. She has only hosted the radio show since January after taking over from Chris Evans.

A number of female news presenters also got huge windfalls, with Sophie Raworth now on more than £265,000, up from £205,000, Fiona Bruce on more than £255,000, up from around £185,000, and Emily Maitlis on more than £260,000, up from around £225,000.

A number of high-profile men dropped out of the top 10, including Jeremy Vine, John Humphrys, Nicky Campbell and Nick Grimshaw. All four have seen their pay cut.

Jeremy Vine had £140,000 chopped from his salary while John Humphrys has lost £100,000, Steve Wright's pay dropped by £80,000 and Nicky Campbell is earning £60,000 less last year.

But, in a statement posted by Today programme presenter Mishal Husain, the group BBC Women suggested it was too early to celebrate.

'There has been some progress in the last two years, but many women at all levels of the BBC are locked into slow, inefficient and demoralising internal processes,' they said.

'New equal pay cases are still emerging and staff are yet to have confidence that pay inequality is in the past.'

BBC News presenters Sophie Raworth, Emily Maitlis and Fiona Bruce were among the women given bumper pay rises. Raworth earned up to £270,000, Maitlis up to £265,000 and Bruce up to £260,000

Radio presenters Nick Grimshaw, Jeremy Vine and Nicky Campbell all dropped out of the BBC's top 10 earners list. Grimshaw's pay dropped from £400,000 to £310,000, Vine's dropped from £440,000 to £290,000 and Nicky Campbell's pay fell from £410,000 to £340,000

'We're all on it': Moment Today presenters had to discuss the pay list There was an embarrassing moment on the BBC's flagship radio news show, The Today Programme, this morning when they tackled the issue of presenter's pay. John Humphrys and Nick Robinson were presenting the show and discussed the issue with Media Editor Amol Rajan when he blurted out: 'This includes me, it contains two Today presenters.' The list later revealed that both Robinson and Humphrys are on the list, earning more than £290,000 each last year. Mr Rajan (pictured) earns more than £210,000. Mr Humphrys has dropped out of the beeb's top 10 highest earners, having taken a £100,000 pay cut since last year. He introduced the item with a gruff voice, saying: 'The BBC Annual Report is out today. All anyone will be interested in is how much money it is paying it's stars and the gender pay gap.' Apart from Robinson, Humphry's other Today co-costs earn less than him, with Mishal Husain on less than £260,000 and Martha Kearney and Justin Webb both on under £250,000. Advertisement

BBC chairman Sir David Clementi defended the controversial decision over TV licence fees for the over-75s, insisting it is 'the fairest one possible'.

Sir David said: 'I truly believe the decision we have made to fund free licences for the over-75s in receipt of Pension Credit is the fairest one possible, fairest to the poorest pensioners and fairest to all licence fee payers.'

Free licences will be restricted to over-75s who claim Pension Credit from June 1 2020.

Lord Hall said: 'The decision to continue funding free TV licences for over-75s on Pension Credit makes it all the more important that the BBC does everything possible to help itself financially - that's why the record levels of efficiency and higher commercial returns are so important in ensuring we have a strong BBC for the future.'

But he blamed the Government for the withdrawal of the pensioners' free licences. said the corporation would be 'open to conversation' should the Government want to discuss the funding of TV licences for the over-75s.

He said: 'Let's start by remind ourselves who is responsible, it is the Government who is withdrawing their funding of the over 75s, they decided on that in the full knowledge, let me say, that reform was a possible outcome.

'So the suggestion that somehow we are not keeping to a settlement agreement or we're doing something we shouldn't be doing, is just wrong.'

Downing Street said the BBC needed to explain why staffing costs were increasing at a time when the corporation said it could not afford to fund TV licences for the over 75s.

'As a public service broadcaster funded by the licence fee, the BBC has a responsibility to lead the way in promoting workplace equality,' the Prime Minster's official spokesman said.

'We welcome the progress made but the BBC themselves admit there is much more to do.

'At the same time the BBC needs to explain why they increased the on-air pay and total staffing costs while saying they can't fund free TV licences for over 75s.

'As the PM has made clear, taxpayers expect the BBC to use its substantial licence fee income in an appropriate way to make sure it delivers for UK audiences, which includes showing restraint on salaries for senior staff.'

Lauren Laverne's pay increased from more than £230,000 to more than £305,000, Lauren Laverne's pay increased from more than £230,000 to more than £305,000 while Gabby Logan's pay rose from more than £230,000 to more than £290,000

Despite the main trend being increased salaries for women and cuts in pay fort men, some male presenters saw their pay increase.

TV and radio presenter Jason Mohammad has seen a rise of around £95,000, and BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker has had an increase of roughly £60,000.

Justin Webb and Nick Robinson, presenters of the Today programme, have both seen an increase (£85,000 and £40,000 respectively).

Radio 1 breakfast show host Greg James is up around £55,000, while football pundit Alan Shearer has seen a rise of £30,000.

Today, Lord Hall said the figures shows the BBC had 'turned a corner on gender pay'.

He added: 'When we published the figures for top talent, there was a 75:25 split between men and women. The projection for 2019/20 is now 55:45. This is significant change. The task is not complete, we are not complacent, but we are well on our way.'

The changing fortunes of the BBC's men and women Today's annual report shows many high-profile women at the BBC have had pay increases as the corporation seeks to cut its gender pay cap. Meanwhile, a series of well-known male presenters, many coming to the end of their careers, have had to put up with reduced wages. Stats in the report show that men at the BBC now earn on average 6.7% more than women, down from 9.3% in 2017. Figures show 54% of staff at the corporation are men, while 46% are women. Director-general Tony Hall said the stats showed the broadcaster had 'turned the corner on gender pay'. Five female presenters who've had their pay soar... Jo Whiley - Radio 2 - Up from £170,000 to £275,000 Sara Cox - Radio 2 - Up from less than £150,000 to £239,000 Sophie Raworth - BBC News - Up from £205,000 to more than £265,000 Fiona Bruce - BBC News and the Antiques Roadshow - Up from £185,000 to more than £255,000 Emily Maitlis - Newsnight - Up from around £225,000 to more than £260,000 ...and five men who've dropped out of the top 10... Jeremy Vine - Radio 2 & Eggheads - Now on £294,000 (down from £449,000 ) Nicky Campbell - 5 live Breakfast - Now on £344,000 (down from £419,000) Nick Grimshaw - Radio 1 - Now on £314,000 (down from £409,000) John Humphrys - Radio 4 Today - Now on £295,000 (down from £409,000) Stephen Nolan - The Nolan Show - Now on £329,00 (down from £409,000) Advertisement

Revealed: The BBC's 75 stars now paid in excess of £150,000 (that's more than the Prime Minister!) Today Programme Nick Robinson - £290,000 - £294,999 John Humphrys - £290,000 - £294,999 Mishal Husain - £255,000 – £259,999 Martha Kearney - £245,000 – £249,999 Justin Webb - £245,000 – £249,999 World at One Sarah Montague - £240,000 – £244,999 PM Evan Davis - £275,000 – £279,999 Eddie Mair - £155,000 – £159,999 BBC News at Six and BBC News at Ten Huw Edwards - £490,000 – £494,999 George Alagiah - £315,000 – £319,999 Sophie Raworth - £265,000 – £269,999 Question Time Fiona Bruce - £255,000 – £259,999 The Andrew Marr Show Andrew Marr - £390,000 – £394,999 Newsnight Emily Maitlis - £260,000 – £264,999 Victoria Derbyshire Show Victoria Derbyshire - £215,000 – £219,999 BBC News Channel Clive Myrie - £200,000 – £204,999 Reeta Chakrabarti - £170,000 – £174,999 Ben Brown - £165,000 – £169,999 Jane Hill - £155,000 – £159,999 Joanna Gosling - £150,000 – £154,999 BBC Radio News Tina Daheley - £185,000 – £189,999 BBC Breakfast Louise Minchin - £205,000 – £209,999 Naga Munchetty - £190,000 – £194,999 Charlie Stayt - £190,000 – £194,999 On-air editors and correspondents Laura Kuenssberg - £250,000 – £254,999 Jon Sopel - £240,000 – £244,999 Jeremy Bowen - £215,000 – £219,999 Amol Rajan - £210,000 – £214,999 Katya Adler - £205,000 – £209,999 Fergal Keane - £195,000 – £199,999 Mark Easton - 180,000 – £184,999 James Naughtie - £170,000 – £174,999 Simon Jack - £170,000 – £174,999 John Pienaar - £160,000 – £164,999 Sarah Smith - £160,000 – £164,999 Orla Guerin - £160,000 – £164,999 BBC Radio 1 Nick Grimshaw - £310,000 – £314,999 Scott Mills - £285,000 – £289,999 Greg James - £225,000 – £229,999 Annie Mac - £180,000 – £184,999 Clara Amfo - £150,000 – £154,999 BBC Radio 2 Chris Evans - £1,250,000 – £1,254,999 Steve Wright - £465,000 – £469,999 Zoe Ball - £370,000 – £374,999 Jeremy Vine - £290,000 – £294,999 Ken Bruce - £280,000 – £284,999 Jo Whiley - £270,000 – £274,999 Simon Mayo - £245,000 – £249,999 Sara Cox - £235,000 – £239,999 Trevor Nelson - £165,000 – £169,999 BBC Radio 5 live Nicky Campbell - £340,000 – £345,999 Adrian Chiles - £180,000 – £184,999 Nihal Arthanayake - £175,000 – £179,999 Rachel Burden - £170,000 – £174,999 Dotun Adebayo - £150,000 – £154,999 BBC 6 Music Lauren Laverne - £305,000 – £309,999 Shaun Keaveny - £160,000 – £164,999 Multiple stations Vanessa Feltz - £355,000 – £359,999 Stephen Nolan - £325,000 – £329,999 Mark Radcliffe - £155,000 – £159,999 Sport Gary Lineker - £1,750,000 – £1,754,999 Alan Shearer - £440,000 – £444,999 Jermaine Jenas - £210,000 – £214,999 Ian Wright - £205,000 – £209,999 Jonathan Agnew - £170,000 – £174,999 Sue Barker - £195,000 – £199,999 John McEnroe - £190,000 – £194,999 Gabby Logan - £290,000 – £294,999 Mark Chapman - £230,000 – £234,999 Clare Balding - £175,000 – £179,999 Television and radio Mary Berry - £195,000 – £199,999 Jason Mohammad - £355,000 – £359,999 Dan Walker - 280,000 – £284,999 Graham Norton - £610,000 – £614,999 Claudia Winkleman - £370,00 - £374,999 Advertisement

Tess Daley, Alex Jones and the EastEnders cast are able to 'hide their earnings' as BBC sets aside £12m to compensate 'livid' stars forced to pay more tax

Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman do not have to reveal the pay they receive from Strictly Come Dancing

BBC stars including Tess Daly are paid by BBC Studios, a TV production and distribution company, meaning they do not have to have their salaries disclosed in today.

Matt Baker and Alex Jones, the presenters from The One Show, also do not have to reveal their annual pay because the daily magazine show is made by BBC Studios.

The company makes many of the BBC's popular programmes, but has been a commercial entity since April 2017 and is not funded by licence fee payers.

Stars of programmes including Top Gear, Strictly Come Dancing, Planet Earth II, Doctor Who, Mrs Brown's Boys, EastEnders, Casualty and The One Show - all created by BBC Studios - are off the list.

Some stars have just portions of their salaries shown.

For example, Strictly Come Dancing presenter Claudia Winkleman was last year in the £379,000 - £374,999 pay bracket for hosting a weekly show on Radio 2 and a 'range of programmes and series' on BBC.

But it appears her fee for hosting Strictly is not listed.

Casualty actor Derek Thompson, EastEnders star Danny Dyer and outgoing Strictly Come Dancing judge Dame Darcey Bussell and her colleagues are not listed.

Zoe Ball, who made up to £374,000 to £375,000, does not have to say her earnings for Strictly: It Takes Two because it is made by BBC Studios.

Today it was revealed that the corporation has set aside £12million to help stars with their pre-2017 tax bills.

Last year it was revealed that presenters were 'livid' because they were being forced to pay the top rate of income tax because the BBC scrapped a payment system that channelled earnings through personal companies.

Instead, stars, believed to have included Chris Evans and Claudia Winkleman, would now be classified as ordinary employees.

Mrs Brown's Boys is among the shows whose stars do not have to reveal their pay as they are paid by BBC Studios

This means they will follow the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax plan like millions across Britain, which lands them paying the top rate

But 'upset' presenters have accused the broadcaster of 'throwing them under a bus', a source told The Times, with another claiming top stars are 'having to fight to be treated with respect'.

The £12million will be used to either pay HMRC or the presenters involved.

Today's annual report says: 'The Board considers that a settlement option with either HMRC or individual presenters is in the best interests of the BBC'.

How BBC's lesser-known Final Score host Jason Mohammad cracked top 10 rich list after bumper £95k rise to £360,000 for playing a major role in the Beeb's 2018 World Cup coverage

Lesser-known BBC presenter Jason Mohammad has burst into the corporation's top ten highest paid broadcasters after an extraordinary £95,000 salary increase.

The sports journalist took home between £355,000 and £359,999 last year - up from £260,000 to £269,999 in 12 months.

Mr Mohammad, 43, presents Final Score on Saturdays as well as a daily show on BBC Radio Wales, and also played a major role in the BBC's 2018 World Cup coverage in Russia.

He also fronts Radio 5 Live's 606 show as well as radio and TV programmes for BBC Wales and lives in Cardiff with his wife Nicola and three children.

Some licence-fee payers have taken to Twitter to say they had never heard of him despite his entry in the top-ten highest paid BBC stars, with one saying: 'Jason Mohammad, who?'

Jason Mohammad has burst into the corporation's top ten highest paid broadcasters after an extraordinary £95,000 salary increase to up to £359,999 last year

One wrote: 'Who on earth is Jason Mohammad' while another who had heard of him tweeted: 'Even Jason Mohammed is on the list - I can watch footie on telly without paying these guys big bucks'.

How BBC football host has replaced 'shock jock' Stephen Nolan as the top earner you may never have heard of Jason Mohammad has taken over the mantle from Stephen Nolan as the highest paid BBC star many have never heard of. BBC Radio 5 Live and Radio Ulster presenter Nolan had a £75,000 pay cut this year but still took home £325,000 to £329,999 He earns more than all the Today programme hosts and said previously he is a workaholic who wants to 'earn as much as I can'. Nolan has won 12 Sony Radio Academy Awards, including seven Gold, giving him the record for the most Golds in the history of radio's equivalent to the Oscars. He presents five days a week on BBC Ulster and also appears on BBC 5 Live and does some TV work. In 2005 and 2006 Nolan was named the Royal Television Society's Presenter of the Year. Nolan said: 'I want to work as much as I can, I want to be the best I can be and I want to earn as much as I can'. A confirmed bachelor, his personal life is another feature of the show, where he has often discussed his personal demons and battles over his weight, love for junk food like Tayto Prawn Cocktail crisps and peach schnapps. But recently he has shunned junk food for exercise and lost an incredible 8 stone weight loss in just 4 months Advertisement

Jason Mohammad's father is from Pakistan and his mother is from Wales, and he was brought up Muslim attending a Welsh school during the week and an Islamic school on Saturdays. He still attends Friday Prayers and recently made a documentary about his pilgrimage to Mecca.

His wife Nicola is a Welsh-born Christian and the couple educate their children about both religions, he says.

He was seen as a 'rising star' of the BBC, having joined its Welsh radio station in 1997 after graduating from university.

In 2013 he replaced Gabby Logan as the host of Final Score on BBC One on Saturday afternoons and then hosted parts of the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics as well as rare slots in charge of Match of the Day when Gary Lineker is away.

Mr Mohammad's bumper pay rise was one of only a handful handed to top men last year.

BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker, who also presents Football Focus, has had an increase of roughly £60,000.

Justin Webb and Nick Robinson, presenters of the Today programme, have both seen an increase - £85,000 and £40,000 respectively.

Radio 1 breakfast show host Greg James is up around £55,000, while football pundit Alan Shearer has seen a rise of £30,000.

The BBC has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds of licence fee-payers' cash on increasing the wages of women, including those paid to Sara Cox, Jo Whiley, Lauren Laverne and Emily Maitlis, while slashing the salaries of senior men.

Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine has seen the biggest year-on-year cut in salary. In 2018/19 he earned up to £294,000 -a drop of around £150,000 from £440,000-£449,999 in 2017/18.

John Humphrys, a veteran of the Today programme, has also seen a big cut, down around £110,000 to £290,000 to £294,999.

Some Twitter users bashed the BBC over pay and admitted they had never heard of Mr Mohammad

Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw is down around £90,000, Radio 2 DJ Steve Wright has seen a cut of approximately £85,000, and Radio 5 Live presenter Nicky Campbell has had his salary reduced by roughly £70,000.

Jason Mohammad is a regular on BBC TV and radio presenting football and rugby

BBC newsreader and presenter Huw Edwards has seen his salary reduced by around £30,000, and presenter Andrew Marr has seen a cut of roughly £10,000.

Other radio broadcasters to see a drop in salary include Stephen Nolan, down around £75,000, Mark Radcliffe down £35,000, Ken Bruce down £20,000 and Shaun Keaveny down £10,000.

Match Of The Day presenter Lineker retains his spot with the highest pay packet, of between £1,750,000 and £1,754,999.

Former Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans is still on the list, with around £1.25 million, as he only quit his Breakfast Show in December.

Graham Norton completes an all-male trio at the top, pocketing between £610,000 and £614,999 for payments for his Radio 2 presenting job and 'a range of programmes and series', not including his chat show.

BBC director-general Tony Hall said the broadcaster had 'turned the corner on gender pay'.

He said: 'When we first published the figures for top talent, there was a 75:25 split between men and women.

'The projection for 2019/20 is now 55:45. This is significant change. The task is not complete, we are not complacent, but we are well on our way.'