BBC Pay 2025–2026: How Much Do the BBC's Biggest Stars Earn?

Every year, the BBC shares a list of how much it pays its highest-earning stars. The list covers presenters and journalists who made more than £178,000 in the 2025–2026 financial year. This year, radio host Scott Mills topped the list with a salary of nearly £750,000. The BBC publishes this list so the public can see how their licence fee money is being spent.

Scott Mills hosted the Radio 2 breakfast show and also worked on the Pop Top 10 podcast. His salary jumped sharply from around £355,000 the year before. However, Mills was let go by the BBC at the end of March 2026. His high pay reflects all the work he did before leaving.

Second on the list is Radio 1 breakfast host Greg James, who earned between £440,000 and £444,999. His pay has gone up each year he has appeared on the list. Close behind is Stephen Nolan, who hosts shows on Radio Ulster and BBC 5 Live, earning around £425,000. Both men saw their salaries rise compared to the previous year.

Some very famous BBC faces are not on this list at all. Stars like Claudia Winkleman, Graham Norton, and Michael McIntyre are missing. That is because their shows are made by a part of the BBC called BBC Studios, or by outside companies. Those stars do not have to be included in the public pay list.

News presenter Laura Kuenssberg earned around £405,000 this year. She hosts Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg and works on the Newscast podcast. Her pay has risen a lot over the past few years, up from around £305,000 in 2022–2023. Vernon Kay, the Radio 2 mid-morning host, earned the same amount as Kuenssberg.

Former footballer Gary Lineker saw one of the biggest pay drops on the list. Last year he earned over £1.3 million, but this year his pay fell to around £325,000. That is a drop of more than £1 million in just one year. Fellow Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer also saw his pay fall, from around £440,000 to £390,000.

Some names are appearing on the list for the first time. Former Radio 1 host Nick Grimshaw joined with earnings of around £335,000 for his 6 Music work. Sports presenter Gabby Logan also returned, earning around £290,000 for covering the Premier League, athletics, and major women's sports events. New entries show the BBC is shifting some of its spending to different presenters.

Even the lowest earners on the list receive very large salaries by most standards. Presenters like Adrian Chiles and Michael Vaughan each earned between £185,000 and £189,999. The lowest earner on the list, Steven Lai, made between £178,000 and £184,999. The BBC says it is working toward fairer pay across all of its staff.