BBC Director General Tim Davie was facing criticism after it emerged Huw Edwards had been given a £40,000 pay rise and left the BBC with a huge salary over the last year - despite not having been on screen since July last year. The annual report reveals when Huw left in April this year he was on a yearly salary of £475,000 up from £435,000 the previous year. Edwards left the BBC after being named last year as the presenter at the centre of days of allegations and speculation regarding his private life.
He had been off-air since July 2023. Responding to questions about his pay rise and being paid whilst not on screen, Davie said: "There was no settlement payment[for Huw], we have said that before. Look, we're always trying to be very judicious with the spending of public money and no one wants to waste a pound.
"But what you're trying to do and from the onset of that affair, was tried to act proportionately, fairly, and navigate this appropriately. I think that's what we did. And it ended up in the conclusion we will know, but I think we wouldn't have wasted money if we weren't doing the right thing.
"And I think sometimes, many people on this call will be in organisations and you're making calls on what's the right and appropriate process with regard to paying someone while you're working out an outcome to something. So I wouldn't go into the specifics of the individual case, in terms of the increase in pay prior to any breaking of the story, you know, people on the list w.
