The BBC has sparked fury by giving 500 staff a 25 percent pay rise, when the rest of the public sector is experiencing a long period of pay restraint.
According to The Sun 163 staff received a rise of 50 percent and one had their salary doubled.
More than 1,500 staff receive a salary in excess of their stated salary band, according to figures obtained by The Times (subscription). In grade 10, which includes many news correspondents and presenters, 424 of the 1,375 staff are paid in excess of the maximum (£70,672) for their salary band.
A BBC spokesman said: "While there are strict rules around any pay increases it's only right that when people are promoted or take on extra responsibilities it's reflected in their salary – and just as at any organisation, there will be a number of cases where people are promoted to a significantly more senior or prominent role or take on a wide range of extra responsibilities."
James Price of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: "Increases should be performance-related, not just raised for huge swathes of the BBC.
"It’s not right that people are forced to pay licence fees to fund grossly inflated salaries.
"Licence fee-payers expect their money to be spent on quality news and programming, not excessive pay rises."
The BBC is currently facing uncomfortable scrutiny over allegations of gender inequality. The Corporation recently reported a gender pay gap of around 10 percent. Bonus payments made to male employees were 20 percent higher than those to made to females.
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