BBC earnings revealed: See list of pay rises and cuts as Beeb confirms presenter with biggest salary

HALF of the BBC’s top-earning talent have had juicy pay rises in the past year, with just six big names in its top 20 suffering a drop.

Gary Lineker is still the Beeb’s highest paid star with earnings over £1.35m - but his pay has stayed with the same earning bracket of £1,350,000 to £1,354,999.

Zoe Ball has also stuck with the same pay, in number two at £980,000 - £984,999.

But senior newsman Huw Edwards is the biggest winner of the year, with a whopping pay rise of some £30,000.

He’s risen from the  £410,000 - £414,99 bracket to £435,000 - £439,999.

Updating the earnings in the BBC’s annual report, Huw was singled out for praise.

The document read: “Huw Edwards performed a solemn and important task and he broke the news of Her Majesty's death to the nation."

Alan Shearer has enjoyed a nominal £5,000 rise in third place.

Four women make the top ten - up from three in 2022 - thanks to BBC Radio 2 bigwig Zoe, fellow broadcaster Lauren Laverne plus news anchors Fiona Bruce and Sophie Raworth.

Radio 2 legend Ken Bruce’s departing salary of around £390,000 sees him make the top ten as well as Radio 1 ratings winner Greg James at £395,000.

The list does not include all presenters and actors because BBC Studios, the BBC's commercial arm, does not have to publish its own stars' salaries.

BBC Studios produces The Graham Norton Show, explaining his absence from the list.

It means the annual pay bill has surged to a six-year high.

The report revealed salaries for presenters earning more than £150,000 totalled £23.4million in the 12 months to the end of March 2023.

This was a 15 per cent increase compared with last year’s pay of £20.2million, and is at its highest level since 2017, when the BBC spent £28.6m on its best-known presenters.

Elsewhere, there are three notable pay drops among the top twenty.

Scott Mills’ move from Radio 1 to Radio 2 saw him drop from ninth place in 2022 to eighteenth in 2023 - at a £100,000 cost.

Steve Wright has also dropped out the top ten after quitting his afternoon show on Radio 2 in September last year.

He commanded some £450k in 2022, in fourth spot in the rankings, but is now down to £360k for his Sunday Love Songs.

BBC Breakfast’s Nana Munchetty has also suffered a drop of around £30,000.

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."