Scott Mills was the BBC's highest earner on up to £749,999 a

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Former Radio 2 presenter Scott Mills was the BBC’s highest earner before he was sacked over an historic sex abuse allegation.

The 53–year–old made between £745,000 and £749,999 for the year ending in March 2026, according to the corporation’s Annual Report.

Mills was fired by the BBC shortly before it emerged the Metropolitan Police had launched an investigation into him in 2016 of serious sexual offences involving a boy aged under 16 between 1997 and 2000.

The Southampton–born presenter earned between £355,000 and £359,999 in the previous year’s report, when he was the joint 11th highest earner alongside Naga Munchetty.

He earned the money for work on the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show, which he took over from Zoe Ball in January 2025; Pop: Top 10 shows and other engagements across public service.

Former England footballer Gary Lineker, once the BBC’s highest–paid star, earned between £325,000 and £329,999 for the year to March 2026, placing him 15th in the most recent list, having left the BBC in May last year.

He had a salary of between £1,350,000 and £1,354,999 in the last annual report.

Lineker’s 2025/2026 earnings came from his work on Premier League highlights show Match Of The Day, and other football coverage.

1) Former BBC Radio 2 presenter Scott Mills earned between £745,000 and £749,999

2) BBC Radio 1 presenter Greg James earned between £440,000 and £444,999

3) Northern Irish presenter Stephen Nolan had a salary of between £425,000 and £429,999

Full list of BBC on–air pay in 2025/26

1 Scott Mills £745,000–£749,999
2 Greg James £440,000–£444,999
3 Stephen Nolan £425,000–£429,999
4= Vernon Kay £405,000–£409,999
4= Laura Kuenssberg £405,000–£409,999
6 Alan Shearer £390,000–£394,999
7 Justin Webb £375,000–£379,999
8 Naga Munchetty £360,000–£364,999
9 Fiona Bruce £345,000–£349,999
10 Sophie Raworth £340,000–£344,999
11= Mark Chapman £335,000–£339,999
11= Nick Grimshaw £335,000–£339,999
13= Trevor Nelson £330,000–£334,999
13= Nick Robinson £330,000–£334,999
15= Reeta Chakrabarti £325,000–£329,999
15= Gary Lineker £325,000–£329,999
17= Sara Cox £320,000–£324,999
17= Clive Myrie £320,000–£324,999
17= Amol Rajan £320,000–£324,999
20 Anna Foster £315,000–£319,999
21= Emma Barnett £305,000–£309,999
21= Evan Davis £305,000–£309,999
23= Ros Atkins £300,000–£304,999
23= Tina Daheley £300,000–£304,999
25 Nicky Campbell £295,000–£299,999
26= Gabby Logan £290,000–£294,999
26= Jason Mohammad £290,000–£294,999
28 Chris Mason £275,000–£279,999
29= Victoria Derbyshire £270,000–£274,999
29= Jeremy Bowen £270,000–£274,999
29= Simon Jack £270,000–£274,999
32 Jeremy Vine £265,000–£269,999
33 Sarah Montague £255,000–£259,999
34 Jo Whiley £250,000–£254,999
35= Katya Adler £245,000–£249,999
35= Sarah Smith £245,000–£249,999
37 Fergal Keane £240,000–£244,999
38= Faisal Islam £235,000–£239,999
38= Lauren Laverne £235,000–£239,999
40= Matt Chorley £230,000–£234,999
40= Lyse Doucet £230,000–£234,999
40= Rick Edwards £230,000–£234,999
43= Jon Kay £225,000–£229,999
43= Johnathan Joseph £225,000–£229,999
45 Orla Guerin £220,000–£224,999
46= Rachel Burden £215,000–£219,999
46= Kelly Cates £215,000–£219,999
46= Katie Razzall £215,000–£219,999
49= Matthew Amroliwala £210,000–£214,999
49= Ben Brown £210,000–£214,999
49= Paddy O’Connell £210,000–£214,999
49= Jonny Dymond £210,000–£214,999
53= Owain Wyn Evans £205,000–£209,999
53= Lucy Hockings £205,000–£209,999
53= Caitriona Perry £205,000–£209,999
53= John Simpson £205,000–£209,999
53= Sumi Somaskanda £205,000–£209,999
58= Maryam Moshiri £200,000–£204,999
58= Sally Nugent £200,000–£204,999
60= Sally Bundock £195,000–£199,999
60= Christian Fraser £195,000–£199,999
60= Jane Hill £195,000–£199,999
60= Annita McVeigh £195,000–£199,999
60= Alex Scott £195,000–£199,999
65= Craig Charles £190,000–£194,999
65= Steve Rosenberg £190,000–£194,999
65= Charlie Stayt £190,000–£194,999
68= Adrian Chiles £185,000–£189,999
68= Michael Vaughan £185,000–£189,999
70 Steven Lai £178,000–£184,999

Mr Lineker was not the only high earner to depart the BBC, as radio presenter Zoe Ball no longer features on the list.

Ms Ball was second on last year’s highest–paid list, and will now present an afternoon show on Greatest Hits Radio from September.

BBC Match Of The Day football pundit and former Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer saw his pay decrease from between £440,000 and £444,999 last year, to between £390,000 and £394,999, making him sixth on the list.

BBC political journalist Laura Kuenssberg was the highest–paid female staff member with a salary of between £405,000 and £409,999 in the latest report.

The second–highest–paid staff member was BBC Radio 1 DJ Greg James, who earned between £440,000 and £444,999, and the third–highest paid was Northern Irish radio presenter Stephen Nolan, with a salary of between £425,000 and £429,999.

Ms Kuenssberg was fourth on the list, joint with Radio 2 presenter Vernon Kay.

Seventh on the list was journalist Justin Webb with a salary between £375,000 and £379,999, and eighth was Ms Munchetty with a salary of between £360,000 and £364,999.

The top 10 was rounded off with Question Time presenter Fiona Bruce, with a salary ranging between £345,000 and £349,999, placing her ninth; and journalist Sophie Raworth in 10th with a salary of between £340,000 and £344,999.

Four women featured in this year’s top 10, up from three last year.

The list does not include people who are paid through independent production companies or the BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Studios.

The BBC is required to declare a list of salaries paid to people both on air and off air who receive more than £178,000 from licence fee revenue in the year.

Speaking ahead of the Annual Report’s release, deputy director–general Rhodri Talfan Davies said he felt there had been ‘remarkable progress’ on salaries, claiming talent above the £500,000 threshold had been reduced by 50 per cent across the past seven years.

He said: ‘If you look at all our on–air presenter costs over the last seven years, they’ve come down by about £20 million pounds, so we have been focused on it, there is always a balancing act.

‘We want to be a broadcaster that can attract the best talent, but we’re also very mindful of the financial pressures that we’re facing.

‘But I think we’re striking that balance very, very carefully, and I think you’ll see that downward trend continuing in the months to come.’

Mr Mills was questioned under caution by police in 2018 but the case was rejected by the Crown Prosecution Service in 2019 due to a lack of evidence. The BBC admitted that it knew about the allegations as far back as 2017.

The presenter maintains he was unfairly dismissed in March and is now suing the BBC – with his legal team at the London–based firm Level Law corresponding with the corporation.

Friends of Mr Mills believe he was used as a ‘scapegoat’ by the corporation’s then outgoing director–general Tim Davie, who took a zero–tolerance approach after a string of recent scandals relating to Huw Edwards, Gregg Wallace and Jermaine Jenas.

Meanwhile, the BBC’s chair said today that serious ‘broadcasting errors’ by the corporation, including at Glastonbury and the Bafta film awards, ‘affect confidence in our journalism, trust in the BBC as a public institution, and perceptions about how effectively we are held to account’.

The BBC allowed a racial slur to be broadcast during its coverage of the Bafta film awards in February.

During the award ceremony, campaigner John Davidson, who has Tourette’s, could be heard shouting as Sinners stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo as they presented the award for special visual effects.

The involuntary verbal tic was not edited out of the broadcast, which was on a two-hour delay.

Mr Davie, who announced his resignation in November 2025 and stepped down in April, subsequently said the BBC ‘profoundly regrets’ the incident and added that it was ‘a genuine mistake’, which ‘should never have been broadcast’.

It came after a previous editing incident, which saw the BBC face criticism for continuing to livestream the performance of punk duo Bob Vylan as they led chants of ‘death, death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)’ at last year’s Glastonbury Festival.

The BBC is also currently embroiled in a lawsuit with US president Donald Trump over an episode of BBC documentary series Panorama, broadcast in 2024.

4=) Radio 2 presenter Vernon Kay earned £405,000 to £409,999 in the latest BBC pay list

4=) Laura Kuenssberg also earned £405,000 to £409,999, up from £395,000 to £399,999

6) Match Of The Day football pundit Alan Shearer was paid between £440,000 and £444,999

Mr Trump launched a $10billion (£7.5billion) lawsuit, claiming the programme had given the impression he encouraged his supporters to storm the Capitol building in 2021 after he lost the election to Joe Biden.

Writing in the BBC’s annual report, chairman Samir Shah said: ‘The challenges faced by the BBC over the past year have been significant – from the Panorama edit of President Trump’s speech on January 6 2021 and the breach of our Editorial Guidelines by Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone, to the serious broadcasting errors at Glastonbury and the Bafta film awards.

‘We know that people care deeply about these mistakes. They affect confidence in our journalism, trust in the BBC as a public institution, and perceptions about how effectively we are held to account. The Board is acutely aware of the standards the BBC must set.

‘I am confident that the changes we have now introduced will ensure that swift, appropriate and transparent action is taken to address editorial issues as effectively as possible, whenever they occur.’

An internal BBC review of the documentary Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone, concluded it breached editorial guidelines on accuracy, by failing to disclose information about the child narrator’s father’s position within the Hamas-run government.