AN INVESTIGATION by the equality watchdog into BBC gender pay discrimination was criticised today for failing to address the lived experience of women journalists and broadcasters. 

Women working at the broadcaster said they were left “deeply disappointed” by the report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which found no unlawful acts of pay discrimination by the BBC.

One prominent victim of pay inequality called it a “whitewash.”

The report said the BBC accepts that its historical practices were not fit for purpose and had made significant changes since 2015.

But the EHRC recommended improvements to rebuild trust with female employees and improve transparency.

It found inadequate record-keeping on how decisions about pay were made, leading to confusion and poor communication with women making complaints.

National Union of Journalists (NUJ) general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said: “There will be many NUJ members who read this report and feel it doesn’t address their lived experiences. 

“The fact that so many individual settlements, including Samira Ahmed’s NUJ-backed tribunal win, have taken place underlines the clear problems that have existed.” 

Ms Stanistreet added that the changes made by the BBC, acknowledged in the report, were achieved with “enormous effort and pressure” from unions and warned that “they are very much a work in progress.”

Entertainment union Bectu urged the BBC to implement the report’s recommendations in full and recognise the stress and anxiety that fighting for equal pay has on impacted individuals.

Bectu leader Philippa Childs, said: “There are lessons in this report for all broadcasters, many of which have a higher gender pay gap than that found at the BBC and continue to retain opaque pay structures.”

Journalist Carrie Gracie, who resigned from her role as China editor in 2018 in protest against pay inequalities and was later given an apology and back pay, called the investigation a “whitewash.”

Ms Gracie wrote on Twitter: “Examined just 10 cases … Seriously? Follow the ££ instead. BBC forced to pay out to hundreds of BBC women.”

BBC Women, a group of more than 150 professionals at the corporation, said they were “deeply disappointed by the findings that do not reflect our experiences.

“New cases are coming forward and women are still heading to court. We fight on,” they said.

BBC chairman Sir David Clementi said the findings had been “noted”.

The corporation’s new director-general, Tim Davie, said they “accept every one of the recommendations and will implement them.”