Scott Mills tops BBC pay list before sacking as corporation reveals highest earners for 2026
Annual BBC salary figures show Scott Mills earned up to £750,000 before his sacking, while Gary Lineker's pay fell sharply following his departure.
Former BBC Radio 2 presenter Scott Mills was the corporation’s highest earner until his sacking in March, figures reveal.
The 53-year-old earned between £745,000 and £749,999 for the year ending in March 2026, according to the BBC’s Annual Report, for work on the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show, which he took over from Zoe Ball in January 2025; Pop: Top 10 shows and various other engagements across public service.
Mills 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 £1,350,0000 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.
Lineker was not the only high earner to depart the BBC, as Zoe 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.
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.
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.
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.. 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.
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