Huw Edwards took home his biggest pay packet since 2019 during his final year at the BBC, despite the newsreader being off-air for eight months amid a misconduct scandal.
The BBC’s annual report revealed that Edwards was paid as much as £480,000 ($620,000) in the 12 months to the end of March 2024, his highest salary since 2019, when he pocketed up to £495,000.
Edwards signed a new BBC deal early last year and presented coverage of King Charles III’s Coronation, which will explain why his pay rose around £40,000 compared with the £440,000 he took home in 2023.
At the peak of his powers, however, he was embroiled in a misconduct storm after allegedly paying a young person for indecent images and sending colleagues inappropriate messages. Edwards was signed off work in July 2023 with mental health issues and resigned from the BBC in April citing medical reasons. He has not commented on the allegations against him.
Speaking to media on Tuesday, Tim Davie, the BBC’s director general, suggested that it was “appropriate” that the corporation continued to pay Edwards during his period of medical leave.
The BBC’s annual report showed that Edwards was the corporation’s highest-paid news anchor. Only Match of the Day host Gary Lineker (£1.35M) and Radio 2 presenter Zoe Ball (£955,000) were paid more than Edwards last year. Lineker was the BBC’s highest-paid presenter for the seventh consecutive year.
The annual report only provides a partial picture of BBC talent pay. It does not disclose how much stars are paid for work through commercial arm BBC Studios and third-party production companies. It means a presenter like Claudia Winkleman, who hosts Strictly Come Dancing and The Traitors, does not feature in the list of pay disclosures.
The BBC’s top talent pay bill (those who earn more than £150,000) rose more than 8% to £25.4M in the year to March 2024 — the highest level since 2017. Total talent pay stood at £140M, which was a four-year high.
There were pay rises for the likes of Laura Kuenssberg (up around £20,000 to as much as £330,000) and Clive Myrie (up around £25,000 to as much as £315,000) as they took on more duties. Below is a list of the BBC’s 20 highest-paid presenters.
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