Former BBC Radio 2 presenter Scott Mills was the corporation’s highest earner until he was sacked from his role in March.
The 53-year-old earned between £745,000 and £749,999 for the year ending in March 2026, the BBC’s Annual Report revealed on Tuesday.
He earned the salary for work on the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show, which he took over from Zoe Ball in January 2025.
But he was sacked by the BBC shortly before it emerged that the Metropolitan Police had launched an investigation into him in 2016 over allegations 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 last year’s report, when he was the joint 11th highest earner alongside Naga Munchetty.
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.
Read more: Full list of stars on biggest salaries from Scott Mills to Sara Cox and Jo Whiley
Lineker’s 2025/2026 earnings came from his work on Premier League highlights show Match Of The Day, and other football coverage.
Lineker was not the only high earner to depart the BBC, as Ball no longer features on the list.
Ball was second on last year’s highest-paid list, and will now present an afternoon show on Greatest Hits Radio from September.
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 that talent above the £500,000 threshold had been reduced by 50% 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.”
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.
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 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.
