You may have heard recently that some familiar faces from the BBC are on a huge amount of money and more staggeringly, the male TV stars are on far more than highest paid female stars. For example, Chris Evans is paid between £2,200,000 – £2,249,999, he is the highest paid male ‘talent’ as the BBC calls them. And Claudia Winkleman earns between £450,000 – £500,000, that is a huge disparity.
The BBC has long suffered from allegations about their stars not being paid equally to one another. It has only been after the BBC was compelled to publish these figures under the terms of its royal charter, have we seen the true figures. Even the Prime Minister has weighed in on this issue stating, ‘What’s important is that the BBC looks at the question of paying men and women the same for doing the same job.’ Everyone is calling for equality.
It’s not just the BBC – equality is an issue everywhere else
Equality is an issue that doesn’t just affect the BBC but affects other corporations and businesses around the country. This isn’t just about pay either- it’s about age, disability, gender, marital, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation and socio-economic disadvantage.
Apprenticeships programmes are designed to be inclusive and comply with the principles of equality and diversity. They must show they take an active approach to removing barriers for people within minorities applying for an apprenticeship. Apprenticeships must ensure equality of access for those with a learning difficulty for example. Any legal restrictions that limit entry must be stated.
On the subject of the apprenticeship wage equality…
Pay for apprenticeships has recently been discussed by FE week claiming that there has been a rise in the proportion of apprentices being paid illegal wages. It says that ‘Nearly a fifth of apprentices at level two and level three are illegally paid less than the minimum wage, according to the government’s long-delayed apprenticeship pay survey.’ This means that apprentices around the country are working hard but are being paid below the minimum wage- this also means that there could be other apprentices out there doing a similar job but being paid the minimum wage or above, how is that fair and equal? You can read FE week’s full article here.
Apprenticeship pay is something that is under contention at the moment. All apprentices, no matter of age, race etc. are paid what the employer is willing to pay. The disparity of pay within apprenticeships is how varied the pay can be between employers for doing the same job. You could apply to a Level 3 digital marketing course that is paying £500 per month and you could go to another employer that is willing to pay £1000 per month- it just depends on where you go.
You can answer this survey asking whether the apprenticeship wage is enough here.
See our last blog here.
