
Huge percentage of BBC staff in top-paying jobs that were privately educated revealed
The news will increase claims of elitism at the broadcaster.
Only seven per cent of Brits have a private education, but 32 per cent of BBC roles with a salary of £150,000 or more are occupied by those who do.
And just 6.8 per cent of jobs there with pay of under £30,000 are taken by the privately educated.
Social mobility expert Prof Lee Elliot Major said: 'The BBC's disproportionate representation of privately educated individuals in its highest-paying roles starkly illustrates the persistent class barriers in British society.
'The BBC was founded to serve the whole nation — yet we have a public institution that looks and sounds out of step with the lives of the people it is intended to serve and represent.
'It isn't healthy when the most powerful roles come from the same small slice of society.
"It means news organisations are fishing in a narrow talent pool, missing out on the perspectives of people from different backgrounds.'
The BBC said: 'We're doing more than ever to bring people to the BBC from all backgrounds.'
In 2023, an Ofcom report said low-income audiences found the Beeb too 'politically correct'.
Breakfast legend returns to BBC daytime for the first time four years after quitting sofa
1
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


BBC News
25 minutes ago
- BBC News
Wales' news Sustainable Farming Scheme absolutely right, minister says
A new flagship farming policy is "absolutely the right scheme", according to Wales' agriculture ahead of its launch, Huw Irranca-Davies said he was "hopeful it will land to a good reception", even though he conceded "there will be the odd person" who wished it had been done second iteration of the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) and the rate of payment farmers can expect for joining it is due to be announced next week, after unions and farmers rejected the original scheme, staging plans included a requirement for farmers to plant trees on 10% of their land to qualify for subsidies, but they claimed that could lead to huge job cuts. Farming union NFU Cymru want "at least the same level of stability to farm business, rural communities and supply chains" as the current scheme, known as the Basic Payment Welsh government has been holding roundtable discussions with farming leaders, as well as environmental and nature campaigners, to revise the plan which it hopes will make farming businesses sustainable and help to reach its 2030 climate and nature targets. Irranca-Davies, Wales' deputy first minister and secretary for rural affairs and the environment, said the final scheme was "the result of more than 12 months of intense work" involving farming unions, meat, livestock and dairy sectors as well as environmental groups "to get the balance".Although he would not give any detail about the scheme, he told BBC Politics Wales it was "going to be unlike anything else that's been delivered in the UK"."It'll be a whole farm approach and a whole nation approach that delivers for the people of Wales," he said."They want to see farming that produces good food to high animal welfare standards and also does the right thing for the environment."The minister would not commit to publishing an impact assessment of the final iteration as he said work was assessment of the first iteration of the scheme predicted 5,500 jobs would be lost and livestock numbers would be the government is also under pressure from environmentalists to ensure that the plan is 80% of Wales' landscape is under the care of farmers, it is also argued they have a key role to play in helping the effort to tackle climate change and the losses in nature. NFU Cymru president Aled Jones said it was "imperative that the revised scheme and budget attached to the SFS avoids such a shocking impact on one of Wales' iconic sectors". "The SFS must work for all farming sectors and areas of Wales and help ensure that Welsh farming can continue to underpin the £9.3bn food and farming supply chain," he about the impact assessment, Irranca-Davies said his "feeling was that it'll be better" for both "viable farm businesses and environmental benefits as well".Again refusing to pre-empt the announcement, he said there would be mitigations in order to ensure those in agriculture would not be left behind as Wales moves towards a greener economy with "real subtleties" within the scheme that would be Cymru's Delyth Jewell MS said: "I think there has been frustrations for a long time that lots of people in the farming community feel they haven't been heard. "We have to make sure - these are people who sustain our lives - we need to make sure their lives are made sustainable too."Conservative Senedd leader Darren Millar MS said he wanted to see the policy voted on by politicians to ensure "democratic legitimacy" for the plan."We've got to make sure that the new scheme has food security at its heart, and that it will actually deliver the sustainable future for our farmers that they need," he said.


The Independent
25 minutes ago
- The Independent
Briefings against senior women ministers must stop
Negative briefings from within Government against senior women minister must stop, Heidi Alexander has said. The Transport Secretary was asked about comments criticising her female Cabinet colleagues over recent months, amid rumours of a reshuffle at the top of Government. Media reports have suggested Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, Commons Leader Lucy Powell and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy could be demoted or sacked from their frontbench roles. Meanwhile, The Times has reported Sir Keir Starmer could instigate a reshuffle in September, but said this would likely be of junior ministerial roles. Ms Alexander defended her female colleagues when asked about suggestions they could be removed from their senior roles. She told Times Radio: 'I think Bridget is one of the best education secretaries this Government, this country, has seen in a very long time, and I would say exactly the same about Lisa as Culture Secretary and Lucy as Leader of the House. 'I've obviously been in post for slightly less time than they have because when Louise Haigh resigned from the Cabinet I was asked to take on this role, and it's a huge privilege and a huge honour to be doing it. 'It is not without its challenges.' Asked what her message to people within Government briefing against senior women ministers would be, the Transport Secretary told Times Radio: 'Stop it.'


Telegraph
37 minutes ago
- Telegraph
This disastrous development could threaten every great building in Britain
Not for the first time, I find myself thinking about London's Liverpool Street station, a great Victorian building that Network Rail seeks to destroy by putting a horrible skyscraper over the top of its concourse. The City of London's planning authorities have already vetoed one unsuitable idea; now a less radical, but still aesthetically destructive, blueprint by the architectural practice Acme has been prepared, and has passed the first hurdle with the City's planners. Largely because the leader of the campaign to save the station is Griff Rhys Jones, the celebrated comedian – and he is leading it superbly – some in the media have been keen to describe what is going on as a battle between him and a rapacious developer: a prism further distorted recently by the fact that the developers have hired a lobbying company run by a former adviser to Boris Johnson. Given how ignominiously Johnson ended up, one might have thought they would have looked elsewhere; and it has been found that the lobbyist has resorted to using employees of the developer's architect to write on social media in support of the project. It is patently very hard to find members of the public who wish to profess their admiration for the swamping of this fine Victorian building by a vast skyscraper. The station is perfectly all right as it is – I use it two or three times a week for return journeys from Essex – and this proposal is mainly about the exploitation of real estate. The Eastern counties are becoming more populous and the station may well need more capacity; how this is achieved by putting a skyscraper over it is beyond most people. In fact, the real issue about Liverpool Street is that if the latest plan were to go ahead, it could put every great building in the country at risk. The Victorian edifice and train shed at the station are Grade II listed: if a skyscraper is allowed to be built over the concourse between them, then what does that say about the protection of the country's architectural heritage? We are taken back to the relentless decision in 1961 to destroy the Euston Arch, and to an era in which little value was placed on fine 19th-century buildings. Network Rail is preening itself about the contention that its new proposals do not impinge on the Victorian building. But what is now proposed would violate the environment of these great buildings, and it should be rejected to preserve the City's character. You wouldn't stick a skyscraper over the top of a fine Grade II-listed church or fine house, so why is it all right to stick one over Liverpool Street? We as a people have become enormously protective of our architecture, perhaps in response to the ruthless and ignorant demolition of fine 18th- and 19th-century buildings in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The listing process was meant to put a stop to that. More than 2,000 people and almost every relevant heritage body in the country objected to the last plan, and it was discarded. This new plan is in some respects worse than the first, because of some of its intrinsic silliness – i.e. its pastiche entrance arches. And one can intuit all one needs to know about it in a remark by a Network Rail official that the proposed development would create an 'accessible and inclusive space', whatever that means. The logic of proceeding with these plans for Liverpool Street is that the City's planners allow such skyscrapers over and around every fine listed building in the Square Mile. A few minutes away on the Elizabeth Line is Canary Wharf, with so much free office space that some of it is being converted into flats. They want to build new retail space at Liverpool Street when all over the West End shops are empty. The increase in working from home and the ubiquity of online shopping have rendered plans such as Network Rail's utterly superfluous. The City authorities should reject it accordingly.