BBC Chairman Samir Shah has warned that the corporation will reduce the salaries of its highest-paid presenters if they continue to earn significant amounts from outside work. Shah stated that presenters' lucrative external engagements will now be taken into account during salary reviews.
"They make a lot of money out of presenting for the BBC in my view," Shah said in comments to The Sunday Times. "Maybe their view is [that] they don’t. But they leverage the fact that they present on the BBC [to get] gigs outside."
The BBC recently released a list of its top earners, which showed that former Radio 2 host Scott Mills was the highest paid, earning £750,000 before his dismissal in March. Laura Kuenssberg, Vernon Kay, Greg James, and Stephen Nolan each earned over £400,000 during the 2025-26 financial year.
Shah indicated that the BBC would "factor [moonlighting] into the deal we do" when determining future pay for its stars. This comes as several BBC figures have supplemented their incomes with external deals. For instance, Radio 4 presenter Sarah Montague reportedly earned up to £5,000 from the coffee chain Caffe Nero.
Additionally, the BBC's economics correspondent Andy Verity is reported to have earned up to double that amount from an external role with the insurance company Aon.
The move to scrutinize presenters' outside earnings occurs amid broader challenges for the BBC concerning public trust and confidence, following several high-profile scandals.