Ten female presenters considering suing BBC over pay dispute

The BBC's top paid woman is Claudia Winkleman, earning up to $882,895. Photo / Getty

At least 10 female presenters are considering suing the BBC over pay disparity, according to the Telegraph.

The television and radio presenters were reportedly furious after learning their male colleagues were getting significantly better paid, after the UK Government forced the corporation to reveal salaries.

The Telegraph reports the women will confront management together, demanding they get paid the same as male colleagues in the same positions.

The number of women joining the group is reportedly growing.

The BBC will be in breach of UK employment law if it is found to be unjustly paying women and men different salaries for the same or similar work.

Yesterday the UK state broadcaster revealed what its top earners are paid, sparking a revolt among upset employees.

The list was topped by Chris Evans who earned up to £2.25 million ($3.98m) last year followed by Gary Lineker on £1.8m. The top 10 were paid about £9m salary between them - but Strictly Come Dancing host Claudia Winkleman is the only woman on up to £499,000.

Female presenters are already in revolt at Radio 4's Jane Garvey and Charlotte Smith using the hashtags #notonthelist and #GenderPayGap in a series of sarcastic tweets about their pay, reports Daily Mail.

Smith, who presents Farming Today and Countryfile, said: "I'm happy to accept a pay rise to help the BBC out with its gender pay gap problem."

There are also concerns that some stars are being paid huge sums but have been able to avoid revealing it in the BBC's annual report published today.

Graham Norton, who is known to get at least £2.5m a year for his chat show, is only listed as earning up to £899,000 because he get paid most of his cash via a production company. Mary Berry, who hosted The Great British Bakeoff, is not on the list for the same reason.

The salaries of other stars, including Matt LeBlanc, are also kept secret because they are paid by the corporation's foreign TV arm BBC Worldwide.

Director General Tony Hall has urged staff not to make comparisons but the list of people earning more than £150,000 has revealed stark differences on many hit shows.

Winkleman is the BBC's top-earning woman, on up to £499,000 for her TV and radio work.

But a pay gap among Strictly has emerged with Craig Revel Horwood and Darcey Bussell earning up to £199,000 but Bruno Tonioli gets up to £249,000 along with Len Goodman.

BBC Breakfast's Dan Walker gets up to £250,000 a year but co-hosts Sally Nugent and Louise Minchin don't even earn enough to break £150,000 threshold.

And there could be embarrassment among the presenters of flagship Radio 4 programme, Today.

John Humphrys earns between £600,000 and £649,000 for the morning news programme and other work, including presenting Mastermind.

Nick Robinson is on £250,000 to £299,000 ahead of female presenter Mishal Husain (£200,000 to £249,000), who also presents TV news for the corporation, but their colleague Sarah Montague does not make the £150,000 pay bracket.

BBC bosses could be hauled before Parliament over the issue of disparate pay deals and women being paid less, as Damian Collins, chair of Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said he will be raising the issue.

Speaking to Sky News he said: "If it becomes clear that people doing the same job with the same level of experience but being paid at very different levels, people will question why that can be the case.

"There has been concern raised that we may see examples of this. This would certainly be a very serious matter.

"This would certainly be something we would take up very strongly with the BBC when the director general and the chairman appear before the select committee in the autumn."

BBC insiders say that publishing the salary details is going to push up salaries or see talent leave for rivals.

- additional reporting Daily Mail