The One Show’s Alex Jones says the BBC has ‘put right’ the gender pay gap with co-presenter Matt Baker

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The One Show’s Alex Jones says the BBC has ‘put right’ the gender pay gap with co-presenter Matt Baker

By Susan Devaney

7 years ago

Alex Jones, who presents The One Show with Matt Baker, has revealed that the BBC has now addressed the pay disparity between the duo. 

The gender pay gap has been a hot topic of late – especially after the BBC revealed the pay brackets of its current employees six months ago.

Absurd as it sounds, some women working for the British broadcaster discovered that they may be sitting on the same sofa, doing the same presenting job day after day, but they’re not picking up the same pay packet as their male counterparts.

One such person was Alex Jones, presenter of The One Show. At the time, Jones spoke of her “shock” at the pay disparity with her co-presenter, Matt Baker.

“Matt and I have never discussed wages, but I assumed we got paid the same,” Jones told The Mirror, referencing the £50,000 pay difference. Jones discovered that while she was in the £400,000 to £449,000 bracket, Baker was in a grade higher on £450,000 to £499,000.

“I was quite shocked. I guess everybody else was.”

Now, Jones has revealed that the BBC has “put it right” between the two.

“We’ve never discussed our pay because we’re quite British like that. Even my mum doesn’t know how much I earn,” Jones tells Hello Magazine.

“But the BBC seem to be doing what they can and I know that with Matt and I our editor put that right; it’s been addressed with us.”

Since the public body published a list of their top-earning talent six months ago, the broadcaster has come under fire for its unfair pay structure, with many employees opting to protest. Carrie Gracie, the BBC’s former China editor, resigned earlier this year due to the company’s “secretive and illegal” pay culture, after she discovered she’s been underpaid by £100,000 since 2014.

However, in recent days the BBC has pledged to have a 50:50 ratio balance of male and female contributors on its news programmes by April 2019.

You can read more on the gender pay gap here.

Images: Getty Images / Rex Features 

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