BBC settles sex and age discrimination dispute with female presenters

Telegraph

14-03-2025

The BBC has avoided a potentially damaging employment tribunal by settling a sex and age discrimination claim brought by four female news presenters.
Martine Croxall, Annita McVeigh, Karin Giannone and Kasia Madera were due to begin a three-week tribunal on Monday.
Instead, the matter has been settled with no admission of liability.
The four claimed that they had been overlooked for presenting jobs on the newly merged BBC News channel because they were women in their 40s and 50s.
In a statement, they said: 'We can confirm that we have reached a resolution with BBC management that avoids the need for a tribunal hearing in respect of our employment-related claims.
'A protracted process lasting almost three years is now over. We've been deeply moved by the support we've received.
'We look forward to contributing further to the success of BBC News, especially to live programming and the growing streaming services that are so important to our audiences.'
At a preliminary hearing last year, the four women claimed that the corporation created a 'hostile, degrading, intimidating' workplace environment which affected their health and damaged their reputations.
They alleged that the BBC's then editor of news channels, Jess Brammar, had privately assured four other presenters – two men and two younger women – that their jobs were safe, six months before the recruitment process officially began.
'Sham recruitment exercise'
After going through a 'sham recruitment exercise', the women said, they were told in February 2023 that they had not been selected for the chief presenter roles and subsequently spent a year off air 'against our will'.
The roles went to Matthew Amroliwala, Christian Fraser, Yalda Hakim, Maryam Moshiri and Lucy Hockings.
The BBC denied the pay complaints, saying the recruitment process had been 'rigorous and fair'.
In 2020, Samira Ahmed took the BBC to a tribunal and won a landmark judgment after arguing that she deserved to be paid the same for presenting Newswatch as Jeremy Vine received for presenting Points of View.
Two years earlier, the BBC settled a gender pay dispute with Carrie Gracie, its former China editor, who had discovered that she was paid significantly less than Jon Sopel, another foreign editor.
A BBC spokesman said: 'After careful consideration, we have reached a resolution which brings to an end protracted legal proceedings with four members of staff and avoids further costs for the BBC.
'In doing so, we have not accepted any liability or any of the arguments made against the BBC. We are simply bringing to a close all of the actions brought against us so that all involved can move forward.
'The BBC successfully launched a single BBC News channel in 2023, bringing the best live and breaking news on TV and online both here and around the world.
'We welcome this opportunity to now look to the future, and to work together on delivering for our audiences – which is our first priority.'