BBC director sorry for ‘disguising’ wages

A BBC director has been forced to apologise after being caught trying to hide the number of corporation staff earning more than £100,000.

Robert Johnston, paid £196,500, emailed staff responsible for releasing salary data and asked them to "deliberately disguise" the numbers earning six-figure sums.

The BBC's Direction Group had intended staff to release salaries categorised in bands of £70,000 to £99,999 and £100,000 to £129,000.

But Mr Johnston, who is "reward director", asked for the bands to be changed to make it appear a lower number earned more than £100,000.

He wrote: "We purposely changed the bands... to make it less obvious how many employees were above £100k, there are quite a few that fall between £100k and £110k but if they sit in an £80k to £110k band it's not so cler [sic] how many there are!"