The BBC has published its annual rich list for 2025-2026, revealing the salaries of its highest-paid on-air talent. Sacked presenter Scott Mills tops the register with earnings between £745,000 and £749,999, more than double his previous year's pay of £355,000-£359,999. In contrast, the average UK salary stands at £39,039, meaning a typical worker earns roughly 19% of Mills's annual income before tax.
Top Earners on the BBC Payroll
Following Mills, Greg James earned between £440,000 and £444,999, while Stephen Nolan took home £425,000-£429,999. Laura Kuenssberg's salary was reported at £405,000-£409,999. These figures represent only those staff paid directly by the BBC; high-profile names like Claudia Winkleman and Graham Norton are excluded because they are compensated through production companies.
Mills, best known for hosting the BBC Radio 2 breakfast show—now taken over by Sara Cox—and co-hosting podcasts such as Scott & Rylan's Pop: Top 10, was dismissed earlier this year. His predecessor Zoe Ball earned over £1.36 million in her first year as presenter in 2019.
Interactive Salary Comparison Tool
To help readers understand the disparity, the newspaper has launched an interactive tool that compares users' annual earnings against the BBC's top earners on a per-second basis. Users enter their salary and click "compare" to see how much the Beeb's stars make every second relative to their own income. The tool also offers a 10-minute jump option for a more dramatic comparison.
The tool requires JavaScript to function. It provides a stark visualisation of the gap between BBC salaries and the average UK wage.
