The BBC was accused of living in “fantasy land” after it defended paying six-figure salaries to senior managers and presenters.
Anne Bulford, the BBC’s managing director of finance and operations, admitted to MPs on Tuesday that the corporation had missed its target of reducing by 20% the number of senior managers earning more than £150,000.
The BBC’s annual report, published in July, showed that 74 BBC senior managers were paid £160,000 or more in 2014 to 2015, up from 66 the previous year.
Bulford said overall numbers of senior management had fallen, but said the number of people earning more than £150,000 had increased because managers were taking on a broader range of responsibilities with technical and digital skills that commanded higher salaries in the open market.
John Nicolson, SNP MP and a member of the House of Commons culture, media and sport committee, said a lot of BBC staff “pinch themselves at how much they are paid” and accused the corporation of being a “cosy club” which pays its members “a lot of money”.
He said: “You think a salary of £450,000 is discounted? This is fantasy land. I think you’ll find the average licence fee payer shocked by that.”
Bulford said senior managers’ salaries are “discounted” compared to rival channels.
“I think these are salaries that are high compared to average earnings, which they are,” she told the committee. But she insisted they are “heavily discounted against equivalent roles in other organisations”.
Bulford said the BBC had also missed its target to cut senior management to 1% of the total BBC workforce.
The figure has gone up to 2% but she said it would be reduced following a redefinition of roles and was a “work in progress”. Committee chair, Tory MP Jesse Norman, described the explanation as “slippery indeed”.
James Purnell, director of strategy and operations at the BBC, told the committee: “Relative to people running media organisations, it is very significantly discounted if you compare it to people running Sky or even Channel 4.
“For licence fee payers, the argument we would want to make is the BBC is to be judged on the quality of its output.”
The BBC’s annual report also revealed that more than 100 stars at the corporation earn more than £150,000 while nine celebrities were paid between £500,000 and £1m a year.
