BBC journalist Samira Ahmed taking equal pay claim to employment tribunal

BBC Radio 4 Front Row presenter Samira Ahmed is taking the corporation to an employment tribunal claiming she has been paid less than male colleagues for doing equal work.

Ahmed, who also presents Newswatch on BBC One, is a member of the BBC Women group, made up of hundreds of producers and journalists, that has repeatedly spoken out on the issue of equal pay since 2017.

The issue gained momentum after former China editor Carrie Gracie resigned in protest over what she called a “secretive and illegal” pay culture at the BBC in January 2018.

Gracie later won an apology from the BBC and a payout of the money she was owed six months after taking her fight public.

Ahmed has repeatedly spoken out in support for Gracie.

Ahmed’s case cites “failure to provide equal pay for equal value work” under the Equal Pay Act.

It is due to start at an employment tribunal in central London next Monday and is currently listed to continue all week.

The BBC declined to comment on the case today.

Gracie h as become a figurehead for the equal pay movement since speaking out about her battle to be paid the same as other BBC international editors,

She was paid £135,000 a year as China editor but discovered this was lower than North America editor Jon Sopel when the salaries of the BBC’s on-air talent paid more than £150,000 were first released under Government mandate in July 2017.

Gracie told Press Gazette last month she “wouldn’t be surprised” if some grievances still being pursued by female colleagues ended up at employment tribunal.

Ahmed joined the BBC as a graduate news trainee in 1992 and worked as a reporter on Radio 4’s Today and Newsnight before stints as Los Angeles correspondent and as a news anchor on the BBC News channel.

She went to Channel 4 News as a correspondent between 2000 and 2011 before returning to present and make documentaries for the BBC alongside some freelance writing work.

She was also named a visiting professor of journalism at Kingston University in 2011.

Alongside Newswatch, which responds to viewers’ complaints about BBC News coverage, and arts show Front Row, Ahmed has presented Radio 4 programmes including The World Tonight, The World This Weekend, PM, Sunday, and Woman’s Hour.