Moonlighting presenters face cuts to salaries, BBC chairman warns

Published: 01:12, 20 July 2026 | Updated: 01:29, 20 July 2026 The BBC has threatened to slash the excessive salaries of its biggest stars if they continue using their fame to rake in extra cash elsewhere. Chairman Samir Shah said bosses will now take presenters’ lucrative external work into account during salary reviews. Mr Shah said: ‘They make a lot of money out of presenting for the BBC in my view. 'Maybe their view is [that] they don’t. But they leverage the fact that they present on the BBC [to get] gigs outside.’ It comes after the BBC published a list of its highest-paid presenters, revealing that former Radio 2 host Scott Mills was its biggest earner – with a salary of £750,000 – before his sacking in March over an historic sex abuse allegation. Laura Kuenssberg, Vernon Kay, Greg James and Stephen Nolan earned more than £400,000 in 2025-26. Speaking to The Sunday Times, Mr Shah said the Corporation would ‘factor [moonlighting] into the deal we do’ when deciding what stars should be paid. Several BBC figures have recently topped up their salaries with external deals, including Radio 4 presenter Sarah Montague, who earned up to £5,000 from coffee chain Caffe Nero. Sarah Montague, who presents the BBC Radio 4 programme World at One, made up to £5,000 from coffee chain Caffe Nero The Corporation's economics correspondent Andy Verity made up to double that amount from external work Economics correspondent Andy Verity earned up to £10,000 from insurance company Aon. It comes as the BBC faces a wider battle over trust and public confidence following a number of scandals, such as that surrounding veteran newsreader Huw Edwards. He was convicted of making indecent images of children in 2024.