BBC salaries: ‘transparency’ call as Stephen Nolan retains top five status

The DUP MP was commenting after the latest figures from the corporation show that Stephen Nolan is now the fifth highest paid BBC presenter in the UK.

Nolan earned between £415,000 and £420,000 for his work on BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio 5 Live, Nolan Live on BBC1 NI and the Nolan Investigates Stonewall podcast series.

Top earner was once again Gary Lineker who earned around £1.35m in 2021-22 – mainly for presenting Match of the Day (MOTD). His fellow MOTD presenter Alan Shearer earned between £450,000 and £455,000.

Mr Campbell said that despite the increased transparency around the salaries of top earners, the BBC “remains one of the most secretive publicly funded organisations in the UK”.

He said: “It took almost a decade of campaigning from myself and others to get the salaries above £150k published. We now need published the full details about how many presenters have personal production companies and how much they are earning through these ‘additional earnings’.

“In some cases presenters can be paid hundreds of thousands for TV programmes in addition to their published salary. All invoices and receipts for programmes made by companies linked to BBC talent should be published.

“They should be available under Freedom of Information.”

Mr Campbell added: “Presenters with their own production company have a huge advantage over production companies that are wholly independent. This needs to be examined as no production company should have an advantage just because they work in the BBC.”

Zoe Ball remains the broadcaster’s second highest paid talent, with a salary of £980,000 to £984,999, but figures show her total salary falling for a second consecutive year.

Her salary has now slipped to below £1 million and reflects approximately 210 editions of The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on Radio 2.

The BBC had to make £274m of savings last year and reduced its workforce across the UK by over 400 to around 17,700.

The corporation’s report for 2021/22 shows four out of the top 10 best paid names have seen their salaries fall since 2020.

• Top BBC on-air earners

1. Gary Lineker: £1.35m

2. Zoe Ball: £980,000

= 3. Alan Shearer: £450,000

=3. Steve Wright: £450,000

5. Stephen Nolan: £415,000

=6. Huw Edwards: £410,000

=6. Fiona Bruce: £410,000

=8. Scott Mills: £400,000

=8. Vanessa Feltz: £400,000

10. Ken Bruce: £385,000