Does the BBC really pay white staff less? Here is what its own figures show

13.2%.

That is how much more ethnic minority staff earn than white staff in the BBC's lowest pay band. The figure comes from the BBC's own annual report, published earlier this year, and it spread fast this week.

A post on 7 October said white staff are paid less than ethnic minority staff in 6 out of 7 BBC pay bands. It ended: "The BBC just hate white people." It gave no source, but it passed 263,000 views.

The replies were furious. People wrote "Defund the BBC" and asked if this was racism against white people. Some brought up the licence fee. Others asked the AI chatbot Grok if it was true.

So, is it?

Does the BBC pay white staff less than ethnic minority staff?

Inside most pay bands, yes. That part of the claim is accurate.

The BBC splits its staff into seven career bands. Band A is the most junior. Senior Leaders is the top. The BBC's 2025/26 Pay Gap Report compares the median pay of white staff with that of Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff in each band. The median is the middle person's pay if you line everyone up from lowest to highest.

So "6 out of 7" is correct. On the other measure the BBC gives, the mean (the plain average), it is 7 out of 7. On that count, ethnic minority staff earn more in every band, including Band F.

This is not new either. Last year's report showed the same thing, with ethnic minority staff ahead in 6 of the 7 bands.

Photo: Tristan Ferne / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

So do white staff earn less at the BBC overall?

No. When you put all staff together, white staff earn more. The BBC's overall median ethnicity pay gap is 0.7% in favour of white staff. On the mean, the gap is 2.0%.

Those gaps are small, and they are shrinking. A year ago they were 1.8% and 3.5%.

The same report also splits the figures by group. Black staff are paid 8.5% less than white staff on the median. Mixed ethnicity staff are paid 4.1% less. Asian staff are paid 2.7% more.

How can both things be true at once?

It sounds impossible. One group earns more in almost every band, yet less overall. Statisticians call this Simpson's paradox. It happens when two groups are spread unevenly across the levels.

Here is a simple example. A small firm has 10 white workers and 10 workers from minority groups. Junior jobs pay £10 an hour. Senior jobs pay £30.

Eight of the white workers are senior. Only two of the minority workers are.

Now give every minority worker £1 an hour more than a white worker in the same job. Minority workers earn more in both jobs. But their average is £15 an hour. The white average is £26.

Nobody in that firm is underpaid for their level. The gap comes from who sits where.

The BBC's own workforce numbers show this kind of spread. Ethnic minority staff are 25% of Band A, the lowest-paid band. At the top, among Senior Leaders, they are 13.4%.

25.0%A

19.5%B

20.8%C

16.9%D

14.0%E

14.0%F

13.4%Senior

See the numbers

A	25.0%
B	19.5%
C	20.8%
D	16.9%
E	14.0%
F	14.0%
Senior	13.4%

Band A is the most junior, Senior Leaders the top. Staff on UK contracts at 31 March 2026. Source: BBC Equality Information Report 2025/26.

More people from minority groups sit in the low bands. Fewer sit at the top. That pulls their overall average down, even when they earn a bit more inside each band.

Why do ethnic minority staff earn more inside the bands?

The BBC's report does not give a reason for the gaps inside each band. It only says the average for minority staff is "higher than or close to" the average for white staff in every band.

It does explain what drives its pay gaps in general. The BBC says the main driver is where people sit across levels and job types. It names tech teams as one example, where pay is above the BBC's middle level.

That matters, because a band is not one job. One band can hold a junior reporter and a software engineer. A gap inside a band does not prove that two people doing the same work get different pay.

The BBC also points to its apprentices. It took on 660 new early careers apprentices last year, a record. It says this group is more diverse than its wider staff and starts on lower pay, often in Band A.

Photo: Peter M / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

What does the BBC say about the claim?

The figures were reported by The Telegraph and GB News before the claim spread.

A BBC spokesperson told The Telegraph: "The BBC is committed to fair and equal pay for all. We continue to monitor our pay gaps closely." The paper reported that the BBC says its gaps do not come from unequal pay.

Sir John Whittingdale, the former culture secretary who drew up the BBC's current charter, told The Telegraph that the BBC "ought to be paying staff entirely on the basis of the value and merit they contribute for the job they are doing".

The BBC says it shows pay ranges to all staff and puts them in its job adverts.

Does the BBC have diversity targets?

Yes. The BBC has a goal for 20% of its staff to be Black, Asian or from another minority group. At 31 March 2026, the figure was 17.8%. In leadership, it was 13.9%.

Its plan aims to hit all its diversity goals by 2027. The BBC told The Telegraph that these are goals, not quotas, and have nothing to do with pay.

Photo: Ajay Tegala / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

How much does the licence fee bring in?

A little more than the replies said. One reply put it at £3.7 billion a year. The BBC's annual report says it collected £3,879 million in licence fees in 2025/26. That is about £3.9 billion, up £36 million on the year before.

A standard TV licence now costs £174.50. But fewer homes pay it. There were 23.3 million licences at the end of March, down from 23.8 million a year earlier.

South Africans know that feeling of paying for a public service and asking where the money goes. We did the same with a real municipal bill, line by line and with what is really inside a litre of petrol.

So is the claim true?

The numbers are right. In 6 of the BBC's 7 pay bands, ethnic minority staff have a higher median pay than white staff. The BBC published that table itself.

But the conclusion people drew does not follow from it. Across the whole BBC, white staff still earn 0.7% more on the median. Black staff earn 8.5% less. The pattern comes from who works in the junior bands and who works at the top.

Inside most bands, ethnic minority staff at the BBC earn a little more. Across the whole BBC, white staff still take home more per hour. Both are true, and the BBC's own report says so.