Carrie Gracie: BBC tried to throw money at me to solve the problem

The BBC’s former China editor who resigned over unequal pay has accused the corporation of “throwing money at her” instead of explaining why she was earning less than her male colleagues.

Carrie Gracie said the BBC has offered her £100,000 in back pay and that the reason she was given for being paid less than male counterparts was that she was “in development”.

The presenter, who resigned from her role after 30 years with the company, said the explanation was "an insult to the original injury" and that it was "unacceptable to talk to your senior women like that."

She said the corporation had still failed to fully explain why she was paid less than her male counterparts.

Journalist Carrie Gracie gives evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee on pay at the BBC
PA

Her comments came as director-general of the BBC, Lord Tony Hall, was forced to deny there is an "old boys' network" at the corporation.

Speaking at a meeting of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Wednesday, she Ms Gracie said: "They [the BBC] are trying to throw money at me to resolve the problem, this will not resolve my problem.

"My problem will be resolved by an acknowledgement my work was of equal value to the men I served alongside."

The presenter said the BBC told her she was “in development” in the opening years of her position as China editor, adding: "I would never have gone to China on those terms. I asked for equal pay at the very beginning."

Ms Gracie said the broadcaster offered her back pay of about £100,000, adding: “I have said I don’t want that money. That’s not what it’s about for me. I feel my salary is a good salary, it’s public money, that’s not what it was about. They’re still not giving me equality, they’re not giving me parity.

“They’re not giving me the benchmarks which would allow me to judge that it’s a robust pay system so that it counts as equal pay even if it’s not pay parity.

She added: “As I’ve said along, if they show me robust benchmarks on why they want to pay the men more than me, which they still want to do throughout, that would be okay, but they haven’t given me any of that. Even now.”

Resignation: Ms Gracie was formerly the China editor
PA

Ms Gracie was earning £135,000 before the BBC offered her a £45,000 rise, which she rejected.

She said she had received the results of her grievance last week and that the BBC had said it had inadvertently underpaid her since 2014.

She continued: "The thing that is very unacceptable to me is they have basically said in the previous years 2014, 2015, 2016, I was in development."

Lord Hall later appeared before the committee where he said he believed he had not let the BBC down in his nearly five years at its helm.

He said he had done "quite a lot" in getting more women on the air and into more senior positions.

BBC director-general Tony Hall gives evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
PA

"I don't believe there is an old boys' network, I believe in equality of opportunity,” he said.

"Wherever I can, properly, we have been trying to appoint women to key roles at the BBC - key roles in news, key roles as correspondents and reporters in news."

He added: "The idea of some old boys' club, I abhor. That is not the way I believe that BBC should be or is."

Earlier in the committee, Lord Hall had said the BBC did not discriminate against Gracie, but that there were "differences in the work" between her post and that of the North America and Middle East roles filled by men.

"The range between those two has been too big and I'm sorry about that but there is a difference in the scope and the scale of the two jobs," he said.

The BBC was forced, last summer, to reveal the salaries of all stars earning more than £150,000 a year.

Ms Gracie was not on the list, while other international editors were.

North America editor Jon Sopel was in the £200,000 to £249,999 bracket while Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen earned between £150,000 and £199,999.

It has since been revealed that Sopel, alongside other broadcasters John Humphrys, Huw Edwards, Nicky Campbell, Nick Robinson, and Jeremy Vine, have taken a pay cut.

Ms Gracie has returned to her former post in the TV newsroom where she has said: "I expect to be paid equally."

Mr Humphrys was criticised after a leaked tape showed him joking with Mr Sopel about Ms Gracie and the gender pay gap.

A review, commissioned by the BBC and published on Tuesday, found there was "no evidence of gender bias in pay decision-making".

The Standard has approached the BBC for comment.

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