Mishcon de Reya is advising at least 10 senior female BBC employees on potential legal action following recent revelations about the broadcaster's gender pay gap.

The individuals taking legal advice from Mishcons include presenters named among the corporation's top earners in its annual report published this July.

The report, which revealed a significant disparity in salaries for top male and female earners,  was met with much criticism, prompting the BBC to appoint Eversheds Sutherland and PwC to carry out an audit of its pay structure, overseen by retired Appeal Court judge Sir Patrick Elias QC.

The report, published earlier this month, cleared the corporation of "systematic gender discrimination", but made a number of recommendations about how it could improve its systems and practices.

Mishcons employment partner Jennifer Millins (pictured) is advising a group of female BBC employees who have approached the firm in the wake of the pay disclosures.

Millins said: "What a lot of the women are doing is raising these complaints internally on the basis of their individual circumstances. If in an internal complaint does not resolve the situation, then the next step for those individuals is legal action. There are two paths that an individual or group of individuals could choose at that point – they could go to an employment tribunal or take it to the High Court."

The audit did not deal with on-air presenters, editors and correspondents, whose pay is set to be examined in a separate review expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Commenting on the pay audit, Millins added: "What the audit really did not do was give any answers to the on-air talent who were affected by the disparity in pay, because the on-air talent was almost totally excluded. In that sense, its findings also do not help with individual cases. The problem with the equal pay audit is that it is a little self-serving for the BBC to be doing it themselves, with an appointed QC looking over it."

Of 96 individuals identified by this July's pay report as earning more than £150,000, only 34 were women, with pay for the top male earner – Radio 2 presenter Chris Evans, on £2.2m-£2.25m – far outstripping that of the top female earner, Strictly Come Dancing host Claudia Winkleman, who takes home £450,000-£499,999.

The report also included three of the BBC's in-house lawyers – group general counsel Sarah Jones, who earns between £200,000 and £249,999, and head of legal Peter Farrell and assistant general counsel Peter Ranyard, who are both paid between £150,000 and £199,999.

The requirement for the BBC to name all employees and presenters paid more than £150,000 was brought in by a new Royal Charter introduced by the government last year.

On the release of the audit report earlier this month, BBC director general Tony Hall said: "Fairness in pay is vital. We have pledged to close the gender pay gap by 2020 and have targets for equality and diversity on our airwaves. We have done a lot already, but we have more to do. If the BBC is to truly reflect the public it serves, then the makeup of our staff must reflect them."

Eversheds Sutherland declined to comment.