Number of BBC chiefs earning £100,000 or more rises despite pledge to cut salaries Eighty-five per cent of the BBC's 23,000 employees earn £21,788, the national median income in the UK. The BBC said that it was open about the pay-packets of 100 of its most senior staff, saying their salaries were "publicly available" to view, but that other workers who earn more than £100,000 have a "right to privacy." A spokesman for the BBC confirmed that figures from November 2012 - the most recently available - showed that 19,596 of the Beeb's 23,000 workers earned over £21,788. That means just 3,404 workers in the entire organisation - just 14.8 per cent of its workforce - earn under £21,788. The median income indicator is said to be a more reliable estimate than average income stats as it takes into account the salaries of the UK's 6m part-time workers. The spokesman, in response to the Freedom of Information request, said: "At 30 November 2012, 85.2 per cent of BBC employees were on continuing or fixed term contracts with a total annual salary more than the UK national median figure you have quoted as £21,788. As at 30th November 2012 there were 360 individuals employed by the BBC on continuing or fixed term contracts whose total salary is greater than £100,000. She added: "The BBC recognises that the salary levels of senior managers in any large scale organisation can often seem high but these very senior managers are directly responsible for both large sums of public money and the huge amount of output produced across all parts of the BBC. Those who pay the Licence Fee rightly expect the very best programmes and services that we can offer them and we therefore have to attract the best creative talent in a very competitive broadcasting marketplace to ensure that this occurs. In a second Freedom of Information request it was also revealed that up to September 30 last year there were 196 BBC staff on paid sick leave. The BBC admitted that of those staff off sick - many on long term leave - the total bill from 'the beginning of their period of absence' to September 30 2012 was £4,763,988. A BBC source, who asked not be named, said: "The number of senior managers earning more than £100,000 has gone up to 360, when everyone expected it to keep falling after it hit 310 a couple of years ago. But as always there is a creeping upwards of managers on six-figure salaries. He added: "The BBC do pay well, but I would never have thought that more than 85 per cent of workers were earning close to £22,000."