Presenter Stephen Nolan is now the highest paid journalist across the BBC, with a salary of over £425,000 last year.
Mr Nolan is the third highest staff member overall, according to the latest salary figures released by the broadcaster.
He presents The Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster, Nolan Live on BBC One (NI) and the Stephen Nolan Show on BBC Radio 5 Live. His salary is listed as being between £425,000 and £429,999.
This salary does not include any profits earned by the independent production company he heads. Third Street Studios was most recently commissioned to produce Peelers for BBC.
Laura Kuenssberg, who presents the broadcaster’s weekend political discussion programme Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, was the second highest paid journalist in the last financial year. She earned between £405, 000 and £409,999.
More than 50 journalists earned over £178,000 in 2025/26.
BBC Northern Ireland’s director Adam Smyth was paid between £185,000 and £189,999 in 2025/26.
Former BBC Radio 2 presenter Scott Mills was the corporation’s highest earner until his sacking in March, the figures reveal.
The 53-year-old earned between £745,000 and £749,999, according to the BBC’s Annual Report, for work on the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show.
Mills was sacked by the BBC shortly before it emerged that the Metropolitan Police had launched an investigation into him in 2016 over allegations of serious sexual offences involving a boy aged under 16 between 1997 and 2000.
The police investigation was closed in 2019 after prosecutors decided there was insufficient evidence to bring charges, and is reportedly considering legal action.
Speaking ahead of the annual report’s release, deputy director-general Rhodri Talfan Davies said he felt there had been “remarkable progress” on salaries, claiming that talent above the £500,000 threshold had been reduced by 50% across the past seven years.
He said: “If you look at all our on-air presenter costs over the last seven years, they’ve come down by about £20 million pounds, so we have been focused on it, there is always a balancing act.
“We want to be a broadcaster that can attract the best talent, but we’re also very mindful of the financial pressures that we’re facing.
“But I think we’re striking that balance very, very carefully, and I think you’ll see that downward trend continuing in the months to come.”
Apart from his salary, Mr Nolan is sole director of Third Street Studios, an independent production company that most recently produced Peelers for the broadcaster.
According to its latest accounts published in June, the company had funds totalling just over £400,000 at the end of March. This is down from close to £4m as of March 2022.
In late 2022, Mr Nolan transferred his shareholding in the company to an employee trust, Tsseot, that is ultimately controlled by the bookmaker Paul McLean.
According to the Tsseot accounts, member funds stood at £4.9m at the end of September 2024. Third Street Studios reported having an average of four employees last year.
