Samira Ahmed takes the BBC to court

A leading BBC presenter is taking the corporation to an employment tribunal over claims she was paid less than male colleagues for doing equivalent work.

Samira Ahmed’s case, due to be heard next week in central London, will consider an alleged “failure to provide equal pay for equal value work” under the Equal Pay Act.

It will be “an embarrassing hearing for the corporation featuring a well-known journalist detailing claims against BBC management”, says The Guardian, which predicts that other cases will follow.

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Ahmed presents Newswatch on BBC One and BBC News and Radio 4’s Front Row. The former Channel 4 News presenter started her career at the BBC in the 1990s and has become a familiar face on the broadcaster in recent years.

Unequal pay has become a huge issue at the BBC since the corporation started publishing the salaries of high-earning on-air presenters and reporters in 2017. The fidures revealed significant disparities between the salaries of prominent journalists, particularly between men and women.

Carrie Gracie, the BBC’s China editor, resigned after finding out she was paid less than equivalent male presenters. She went on to secure an apology and a payout from the broadcaster.

Writing on Twitter yesterday, Catherine Mayer of the Women’s Equality Party, asked: “What will it take for the BBC to change its spots? In undervaluing these women, it is failing all of us.”

The BBC is also facing an investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission over claims of historical pay inequality between male and female staff.

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