The News at Ten presenter was taken off screens over the explicit photo scandal
Huw Edwards
Huw Edwards remained the BBC’s highest-paid newsreader despite being suspended for most of last year.
The News at Ten presenter, who was taken off air last July over claims that he paid a teenager for explicit pictures, earned up to £480,000 across the last financial year.
Edwards finally quit the BBC in April, nine months after being removed from screens.
However, he remained on full pay and had even received a bonus payment before he was taken off air, the BBC’s Annual Report shows.
Edwards’s pay rose from £435,000-439,999 in 2022/23 to £475,000-479,999, documents show.
The extra amount was understood to have been awarded in recognition of the presenter’s surefooted work announcing the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and his role in the commemorative events that followed.
He was on air for the first three months only of the 2023/24 reporting period.
The realisation that he would still appear prominently in the annual pay list, published today, had prompted fresh urgency within the BBC to settle his employment status, insiders said.
The BBC announced Edwards had resigned in April, saying his decision was made on the basis of medical advice from his doctors.
He had been suspended following allegations that a senior broadcaster at the corporation had paid a teenager £35,000 for sexually explicit images.
His wife, Vicky Flind, later revealed Edwards to be the celebrity at the centre of the scandal, and said he was suffering from “serious mental health issues”. Edwards has made no public comment since and was reportedly too unwell to co-operate with BBC inquiries into his case.
Asked about the presenter’s pay rise, BBC Director-General Tim Davie confirmed it was awarded before the story which forced him off air broke.
Mr Davie said: “People on the list would be getting pay rises for extended responsibility and actually if they’re doing more hours of work. That is fairly normal business.”
He said Edwards had received no additional pay settlement when he quit the BBC, and he defended the amount of licence fee money paid to Edwards whilst he was off air.
“We’re always trying to be very judicious with the spending of public money, no-one wants to waste a pound,” Mr Davie said.
“But what you’re trying to do since the onset of that affair is act proportionately, fairly and navigate this appropriately. I think that’s what we did. We wouldn’t have wasted money if weren’t doing the right thing.”
It was common for individuals to continue to be paid during an HR process, he suggested.
Gary Liniker tops the BBC annual pay list for the seventh year running. His earnings remained static at £1.35m. His current Match of the Day deal runs until the end of next season, with Lineker indicating he wants to stay on the show.
However, he is understood to have turned down an offer to front the BBC’s Champions League highlights show which begins this autumn.
He has continued to tweet about political events, enjoying new freedoms granted him after the BBC relaxed social media rules for non-News presenters.
Lineker’s Goalhanger podcast production company, home to shows like The Rest Is Politics, is an increasingly lucrative business, generating millions of downloads each month.
Zoe Ball is again the second highest earner with the Radio 2 presenter taking home £955,000, down £30,000 on last year.
Alan Shearer, in third place, also sees a drop in pay from £450,000 to £385,000, reflecting last year’s absence of a major international football tournament for the Match of the Day pundit.
Nick Robinson has moved up the pay list, with his earnings increasing by £70,000 to £350,000. Robinson has added a Today podcast to his Political Thinking podcast.
Clive Myrie, who picked up some of Edwards’s News at Ten shifts, gets a £20,000 pay increase to £315,000.
Vernon Kay, who replaced Ken Bruce on the Radio 2 morning show, shoots into the pay list, earning up to £325,000.
The figures do not include the pay of entertainment stars including Claudia Winkleman or any of the Strictly Come Dancing presenting team. Their salaries are paid by BBC Studios, the corporation’s commercial wing.
The BBC has successfully argued that payments from Studios and independent producers are commercially sensitive information and should not be disclosed.
A Little Thought:
I do not take issue with Huw Edwards being paid whilst on suspension, we would all expect the same and if part of your contract then it’s your entitlement.
What is not acceptable was the length of time the BBC took to investigate the allegations made against him, quicker outcome would have cut the cost drastically.
They have a habit of dragging their feet and this leaves a bitter taste with the licence fee payers, they did or are doing the same thing over the Panorama Interview with Diana,Princess of Wales.
They need reminding it is not their money they are spending, it is our money.