BBC gender pay gap: Sarah Montague 'incandescent with rage' after realising male colleagues were paid more

‘Today’ presenter, on £133,000, did not realise that none of her colleagues were on less than £150,000 and John Humphrys was earning more than £600,000

BBC presenter Sarah Montague has revealed for the first time how she was “incandescent with rage” when she realised her male colleagues were getting paid more than her.

When the BBC’s gender pay gap was revealed in July, Ms Montague was astonished to learn she was the only Radio 4 Today programme presenter who was earning less than £150,000.

While she was paid £133,000 for presenting Today, other Radio 4 work and her Hardtalk television interviews, her colleague John Humphrys, the veteran Today presenter and Mastermind host, was earning between £600,000 and £649,999.

Ms Montague, who some years earlier had been assured she was not the lowest paid Today presenter, discovered Nick Robinson was on more than £250,000, while her female colleague and BBC News presenter Mishal Husain was on more than £200,000.

Justin Webb, the next lowest paid Today presenter after Ms Montague, was earning between £150,000 and £199,999, at least £17,000 more than her.

Revealing her anger for the first time, Ms Montague wrote in The Sunday Times: “I felt incandescent with rage. Managers, who over the years had become friends, had known these figures and thought them acceptable.

“I had long suspected I was paid much less than my colleagues but until the pay disclosures I had no idea of the scale of that difference. Some years ago I was even assured by a manager that I was not the lowest paid on the programme.”

She added: “Before the list was published I had thought there might be some moral high ground from taking less of the licence fee than others. What a fool I was. I felt nothing of the sort. Instead I felt a sap. For years I had been subsidising other people’s lifestyles.

“I also hadn’t clocked just how professionally damaging it would feel. When you are paid less it’s hard not to question your own ability and value to your employer.”

“When I started work more than 30 years ago,” she added, “it never occurred to me that I would be paid less than a man doing the same job.”

The presenter, who left Today last month to join Radio 4’s World at One programme, said that as someone in the public eye, she was supported by many who were outraged on her behalf – but she pointed out it might be harder for women in less high profile jobs to fight for their rights.

“This is where what might have been a rather public humiliation worked to my advantage,” Ms Montague wrote. “Listeners were outraged on my behalf. For women in jobs without such a profile it must be hard to gauge your value and fight for it.”

But even with her high profile, she added, her case wasn’t sorted out quickly.

Ms Montague wrote: “I had thought that because I was in a high profile position and was inundated with requests from journalists to talk about my pay that it would all be sorted out quickly. Nine months on it has yet to be resolved fully.

“Months on, the excuses still being used for lower pay are laughable; or they would be if they didn’t make you want to weep.”

Ms Montague added that in her case the gender pay gap was even worse than it initially seemed, because while others were on staff and getting benefits like pensions, she wasn’t.

“While I was still reeling from the publication of the list,” she wrote, “I discovered that the true situation was far worse.

“Apart from John Humphrys, I was the only Today programme presenter not on a full staff contract. When I joined the BBC more than 20 years ago I was told to set up a company, which means I haven’t taken a penny in benefits or accrued any pension.

“Because of that, the pay gap will last my lifetime.”

Ms Montague’s statements continue the fall-out from the government making the BBC publish a list of staff earning more than £150,000.

When the list was revealed in July, there was widespread outrage at a gender pay gap which meant the BBC’s top earner, Chris Evans, on between £2.2m and £2.25m, was being paid more than four times the corporation’s highest earning woman, Claudia Winkleman, on up to £500,000.

Recalling this, Ms Montague wrote: “The rage felt by women, realising they’d been sold a pup, prompted us to join forces to support each other and to push for change.”

Ms Montague became part of the BBC Women lobby group – alongside 170 others including Jane Garvey, Mishal Husain and Victoria Derbyshire – who called for an apology and back pay.

Among the most high profile gender pay protests was that of the BBC’s China editor Carrie Gracie who in January resigned after learning she was on less than her male international editor counterparts.

This led to the bizarre spectacle of Ms Gracie guest presenting Today alongside Mr Humphrys while he interviewed another BBC presenter, Mariella Frostrup, about the protest of the woman sitting next to him.

Shortly afterwards, Mr Humphrys, along with Ms Gracie’s former international editor, Jon Sopel, who covers North America, plus high profile presenters Huw Edwards and Jeremy Vine, reportedly agreed to accept reductions in their salaries to help close the gender pay gap.

In her Sunday Times article Ms Montague wrote: “We are in this situation because we haven’t been open about pay.

“What’s needed is some light, perhaps even total transparency. That may be the fastest route for organisations such as the BBC to restore trust among staff and ensure the accountability of those setting pay.”

Responding to Ms Montague’s comments, a BBC spokeswoman said: “As we’ve made clear previously, the BBC is committed to closing our gender pay gap by 2020, and the figures show we are already performing better than most other media companies.

“We have also said we want to introduce a clear and transparent pay framework for the future so everyone working for the BBC can have confidence that they are being paid fairly.

“On personal service companies [like the one created by Ms Montague] we have already announced an independent process under the supervision of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution to consider cases.”

In October, a judge-led audit of rank-and-file BBC staff found “no systemic discrimination against women.”