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BBC Studios Reveals Median Gender Pay Gap Has Widened by 2.2% Despite Efforts

BBC Studios’ median gender pay gap has increased to 11.2% in 2020/2021 from 9% in 2019/20, the company has admitted in a new report.

Although the mean gender pay gap had reduced from 15% to 14%, the median pay gap – which, according to Imperial College London is “the difference between the midpoints in the ranges of hourly earnings of men and women” – has widened by 2.2% in 2021.

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Within the BBC’s most senior career band, the gap has grown by a whopping 7.9% since 2020. Last year, the median pay gap between the sexes within the senior leadership was only 10.7%. In 2021, it has grown to 18.6%.

The latest report is the first one since BBC Studios fully acquired UKTV. Without the inclusion of UKTV, the median pay gap grew from 9.0% to 9.9%.

BBC Studios also reported a noticeable jump in the median LGBTQ+ pay gap, which more than doubled from 5.6% in 2020 to 12.4% (including UKTV), which the report attributed to “a combination of some senior staff leaving the business, and changes to how some staff identify in the diversity census we conducted earlier this year.”

“We are absolutely focused on making BBC Studios an even more inclusive and fairer place to work, and although we aren’t yet where we want to be, I am confident that over the next three years, the measures we are taking will continue the progress we have already made,” said BBC Studios’ interim CEO Tom Fussell.

“With the exception of our most senior career band, the majority of our career bands have pay gaps of within +/-4.5%, and I’m proud to say that we are, once again leading the industry by voluntarily disclosing pay gaps by staff grade and across a number of characteristics, so that staff and others in the sector can clearly see how we are performing.”

In other areas of representation, however, the BBC’s median pay gaps have narrowed, including the ethnicity pay gap, which has dropped from 6.6% in 2020 to 5.5% (including UKTV) in 2021 and disability pay gap from 6.3% to 3.7% (also including UKTV).

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