The BBC’s former China editor Carrie Gracie won her long battle over gender pay inequality, receiving an apology and a payout.
In July last year, the BBC was forced to reveal the salaries of all employees earning more than £150,000 a year. Ms Gracie – who had worked at the BBC for more than 30 years – said she was dismayed to discover the BBC’s two male international editors earned “at least 50% more” than its two female counterparts.
In January 2018 in open letter Gracie accused them of having a “secretive and illegal pay culture” She said the BBC was facing a “crisis of trust”, after it was revealed two-thirds of its stars earning more than £150,000 were male.
Speaking to the Commons culture committee in January, Ms Gracie described how – after she submitted a grievance over her pay last year – the BBC told her she had been “inadvertently underpaid” since 2014.
That was the same year Jon Sopel was appointed the BBC’s North America editor. He earns between £200,000 and £249,000, compared to Gracie’s salary of less than £150,000.
On Friday the BBC apologised for underpaying Gracie and acknowledged the “specific circumstances” relating to her appointment, which it said it had “now put right”, the two sides said: “The BBC and Carrie Gracie have reached an agreement to resolve their differences.”
The director general, Tony Hall, said: “I am pleased that we’ve been able to move past our differences and work through things together; we can now look to the future.”
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