As many as 58 executives of BBC earn more than Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s salary of £194,250 a year, a media report says.
According to a “100k list” obtained by the Sunday Telegraph , “there were 382 executives who received six-figure salaries, with as many as 58 earning more than the Prime Minister’s £194,250 a year wage”.
“The figures are likely to anger licence fee payers as well as many of the BBC’s 20,000 staff, the large majority of whom are on much lower wages,” the British paper added.
The BBC has refused to disclose the names of the majority of those on the list or say what they do to justify their salaries, said the newspaper.
While the names and salaries of the BBC’s 107 most senior executives were published in November, the “100k list”, released under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, shows the full extent of its payments to high-ranking staff.
The highest earners were Director-General Mark Thompson getting £664,000 and his deputy Mark Byford £471,000.
Of the BBC’s different divisions BBC Vision, which is responsible for television content, has the largest number of highly-paid staff, taking up around a third of the places on the 100k list.
Only around one in 10 of those on the list works in the BBC Journalism group which oversees news and sport, said the daily.
Meanwhile, Mr. Brown has called on all publicly-funded bodies, including the BBC, to name staff who are paid more than £150,000.
Last week, BBC was attacked for the amount of money spent on talent and expenses, and Mr. Thompson was questioned by the House of Commons’ spending watchdog over the secrecy surrounding individual stars’ pay, said the report.
In a bid to quell public outcry, Mr. Thompson proposed that the pay of the top 20 executives to be frozen for the next three years. This suggestion was backed by the BBC Trust, the governing body, which has also agreed to place a pay freeze on the next 630 senior managers for one year.
The BBC bowed to pressure last week and disclosed that it spends £229 million a year on talent, including £70 million a year on its top stars. However, it refused to reveal exactly how much was paid to the highest earners, the report added.
