The BBC and other broadcasters will be ordered to publish the social class of their employees, it emerged last night.

It comes after Ofcom criticised broadcasters for a 'woeful' lack of diversity among staff and accused the BBC of failing to represent people from different backgrounds.

Its report found older people, women and those from black, Asian or minority backgrounds are underrepresented across the media industry – and many feel they are portrayed in a negative light.

The BBC and other broadcasters will be ordered to publish the social class of their employees

But Sharon White, the Ofcom chief executive, said she will instruct broadcasters to gather and publish information on their staff's social backgrounds, The Times reported.

She told the Royal Television Society Convention in Cambridge: 'It's a really important issue because you want diversity of thinking, not just visible diversity.

'We are in a creative industry where you want great ideas from people of different backgrounds, different classes, different colours, different parts of the country, Scotland as well as north London.

Next year Ofcom will request the broadcasters start providing more data on social class, so they can start to get a better collective understanding of where they 'currently sit', she added.

Ofcom chief executive Sharon White will tell broadcasters to gather and publish details on their staff's social backgrounds

When asked whether there could be potential complications in defining whether an employee is middle-class or working class, she said the process was 'complex but not impossible.'

A socioeconomic survey revealed earlier this year that the majority of BBC staff were middle-class and privately educated.

It exposed that its employees were more than twice as likely as average to have gone to a private school and three times as likely to have middle-class parents.

The census confirmed that 61 percent of staff had parents in the 'higher managerial and professional occupations' and 17 per cent paid to be educated.

Ms White also said she hopes to see paid internships in the radio and TV and radio, but whether they unpaid internships should be banned by law was a matter for government.

She claimed they currently exclude working-class and poor young people from achieving their career goals.

On Wednesday, Ofcom reported that throughout the five main broadcasters, twelve per cent of staff are from ethnic minorities, while 48 per cent are women.

A spokesman from the BBC said: 'Ofcom's report acknowledges its figures are from 2016 and that the BBC has since published more up-to-date evidence.

'We've been clear about our commitment to leading the way on diversity and our figures for 2017 show we have increased our representation across the board.'