BBC pay: List of highest paid stars reveals men still receive more than women

The BBC has published the earnings of some of its top talent – with Gary Lineker at the head of a list still dominated by men.

The Match Of The Day host is the biggest earner, taking home between £1.75 million and £1,759,999.

He replaces Chris Evans at the top, who is shown to be earning between £1.6 million and £1,669,999 for his Radio 2 Breakfast show.

Last year’s accounts showed the Radio 2 Breakfast DJ took home up to £2,249,999 in the 12 months to April 2017 and his salary has been reduced since stepping down from Top Gear.

The top 10 published this year is made up of men, with Lineker and Evans followed by Radio 2 DJ Graham Norton, on up to £609,999 – not including payments for his TV chat show.

The BBC argues that the list does not reflect the true balance of payments to men and women as salaries through BBC Studios, which is not funded by the licence fee and became a commercial entity, are not revealed.

If included, they would feature payments to Claudia Winkleman for Strictly Come Dancing, Alex Jones for The One Show and Fiona Bruce for Antiques Roadshow.

It also says that changes to pay packets in recent months are also not reflected as the list is compiled from salaries up to April this year.

Last year, BBC stars were able to see what their colleagues were paid when the corporation published salaries for 96 people for the first time.

It catapulted the broadcaster into turmoil, with respected China editor Carrie Gracie resigning over unequal pay.

On Wednesday, salaries were revealed in bands of £10,000 rather than last year’s £50,000, after discussions with the Government over transparency.

The BBC also published the detail of which programmes its stars have worked on, which it hopes “will help ensure that more informed comparisons can be made”, a BBC source said.

The BBC recently published figures showing it had reduced its gender pay gap by nearly a fifth.

A BBC source said: “The BBC has come a long way in a short period of time. The job is not done yet, but we are making good progress.”