BBC Studios’ gender pay gap down as women in leadership roles rise slightly

Tim Davie

BBC Studios (BBCS) has cut its gender pay gap over the past year but is still paying men around 10% more than women.

The commercial arm of the UK public broadcaster said the company had reduced the average (median) difference between the pay of men and women down from 14.1% in 2018 to 10.3% for 2019. The UK average is 17.9%.

The figures, revealed as part of its UK Gender Pay Gap Report, also noted that the number of women in leadership roles had risen to 52.1%, up from 49.2% last year.

BBCS said the changes reflected measures taken to invest in future execs, as well as specialist training, changes to shared parental leave and the promotion of flexible working.

The Top Gear and Dancing With The Stars company said the roll-out of a program to bring greater transparency to pay across the business had also helped improve the figures, adding that an action plan to improve diversity and inclusion was in place to drive towards future parity.

The pay gap for LGBTQ+ and part-time staff was close to zero, BBCS added, while the gap for Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds and disabled staff stood at 10.2% and 8.6% respectively.

BBCS CEO, Tim Davie, said: “I am pleased to report solid progress on reducing our UK gender pay gap, and these figures show some success towards tackling a vitally important issue, but we still have further to go.

“We are not complacent about the need for greater change, and will continue to work hard on improving our representation at all levels of the business, with a particular focus on the most senior leadership career bands, in order to reduce our pay gaps year-on-year.”

The BBC has faced criticism, including from its own employees, for pay disparity but BBCS added that it had recently implemented a Career Path Framework, alongside a new pay and grading structure in place with the pubcaster, in an effort to improve transparency.