According to the corporation’s 2022/2023 report, four women are among the top ten highest earners, although none have earned more than £1 million.
While the BBC is under fire following claims that an anonymous presenter paid a minor for sexual photographs, the wages of the corporation’s top performers have been revealed.
The BBC has suspended a male member of staff after The Sun reported that he paid a young person around £35,000 over three years, from the age of 17, for explicit images.
Lineker was paid between £1,350,000 and £1,354,999 for work on Match Of The Day, World Cup 2023 coverage, and Sports Personality Of The Year.
Lineker first led the list in 2017/18 with a salary range of £1,750,000 to £1,759,999, then it was stated in 2020 that he had accepted a voluntary wage drop.
He is one of several BBC celebrities who have openly denied being the anonymous presenter at the focus of the story.
With a salary of £980,000 – £984,999 for her Radio 2 breakfast show and a Radio 2 homage to Terry Wogan, Zoe Ball is the broadcaster’s second highest-paid talent and the highest-paid woman.
Alan Shearer, Lineker’s Match Of The Day partner, is in third position with a salary of £445,000-£449,999, down from £450,000-£454,999 last year.
Huw Edwards is the corporation’s highest-paid newsreader, with a salary range of £435,000 – £439,999, an increase from £410,000 – £414,000 last year, and he ranks fourth on the list.
Other women on the list include Fiona Bruce of Question Time, who has a salary bracket of £395,000-£399,000, a £15,000 decrease from last year; Lauren Laverne of Desert Island Discs, who has a bracket of £390,000-£394,999, a £10,000 increase; and Sophie Raworth, who has a bracket of £365,000-£369,999, a £60,000 increase.
Stephen Nolan, a radio personality, is the fifth highest-paid individual on the list, earning between £400,000 and £404,999.
Ken Bruce, who departed the BBC earlier this year after 31 years as the mid-morning weekday host of Radio 2, was up £5,000, to £390,000-£394,999.
He joins Laverne and Raworth in the top 10 this year, after Steve Wright, Vanessa Feltz, and Scott Mills were pushed off the list after departing their respective BBC programmes.
After standing down from his daytime Radio 2 programme last July as part of the station’s scheduling shakeup, Wright is currently just outside the top 10, earning £360,000-£364,000.
Last year, Feltz earned between £400,000 and £404,999. She announced her departure from BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio London in July of last year.
Mills is not among the top ten highest earners, but he is in the £300,000 to £304,999 income range.
He departed his BBC Radio 1 programme after 24 years in August, although he still hosts his afternoon slot on BBC Radio 2, which he started in November.
His earnings include work on the Scott Mills And Chris Stark Show on BBC Radio 5 Live, as well as coverage of both Radio 1’s Big Weekend and Radio 2’s Jubilee Weekend.
The average salary of the top ten biggest on-air earners is much lower than previous year. While the bulk of top earners earned more than £400,000 in 2021/22, a substantial percentage earn less than £400,000 this year.
Tim Davie, director-general of the BBC, said: ‘I am proud of the content we have delivered – the very best of the BBC – from royal programming to wonderful sporting moments and coverage of the Ukraine war. We have seen this again recently, with Eurovision, the Coronation, and Glastonbury.
‘It remains a period of change, financial pressures, and great competition in the media market. Our task is not always easy and we have to make some difficult choices.
‘But these are challenges we must embrace as we know that the BBC is needed now more than ever, in an age of polarisation and increasing disinformation.’
Source My Celebrity Life.
