BBC News on-air journalists received at least £657,000 in external payments from 550 outside engagements in the year to the end of March 2026, according to the corporation’s outside events register.
The register, which is published quarterly, keeps track of which BBC journalists have taken on gigs as moderators, panellists, awards judges and speakers, as well as who has paid them.
Because the register reports fees only in pay bands, the figures below represent minimum and maximum possible earnings.
The BBC’s chairman Samir Shah The Sunday Times that BBC presenters who make extra money from moonlighting could see their salaries cut in the future, with these external events factored into their pay reviews.
Shah said: “They make a lot of money out of presenting for the BBC, in my view. Maybe their view is they don’t. But they leverage… the fact that they present on the BBC [to get] gigs outside.”
The news follows BBC Radio Ulster’s Stephen Nolan and Laura Kuenssberg topping the list of highest-paid journalists at the BBC in the year to March 2026, though neither were involved in external events during the time period.
Which BBC journalist earned the most from external payments?
The register describes the sums paid for external events as either “Below £1k”, “£1k – £5k”, “£5k – £10k” or “Over £10k”.
Based on minimum pay, the Today programme’s Amol Rajan was revealed to have been paid the most across the year from outside engagements.
Rajan received at least £115,000 from 13 events, 12 of which paid him more than £10,000. His highest-paid engagements included hosting or speaking at finance or technology-based events, including for Euromoney and Virgin Media O2 (VM02).
Rajan announced his departure from the BBC in January after almost five years with the corporation with plans to “unleash my inner entrepreneur”. The BBC announced he would not be replaced as part of its 2,000 job cuts to save money, with the roster of permanent presenters on Today down from five to four.
In the BBC’s annual report, Rajan’s salary was revealed to sit between £320,000 and £324,999, a 2% year-on-year increase.
Together with his external events pay, he would have made at least £435,000 in the year to March 2026.
Rajan also receives an undisclosed fee from the BBC for his presenting of University Challenge, and is set to appear on BBC Celebrity Traitors in the autumn.
Rajan is one of the nine on-air journalists to have received more than £10,000 from an external event.
Broadcast journalist and Europe editor Katya Adler was the only other journalist to be paid £10,000-plus from more than one event. Her external events pay is calculated as at least £25,000, with her overall salary between £245,000 and £249,999.
Today programme presenter Justin Webb ranked second for external earnings, despite not taking part in any events that paid more than £10,000.
Across 13 events, paid at a maximum of £10,000, Webb made at least £52,000, and at most £111,000 – still lower than Rajan’s pay.
Webb’s salary was reported as sitting between £375,000 to £379,000 in the year to March 2026, taking his total pay including events to a minimum of £486,000 – higher than Nolan and Kuenssberg received from their BBC salary.
John Simpson ranked third, earning at least £43,000 from outside work for the year. He participated in 11 events, with a presenter role for culture and entertainment talks company Fane paying more than £10,000.
Simpson’s salary is between £205,000 and £209,000.
Clive Myrie was behind Simpson in his external payments figure, with at least £41,000 generated from eight events. He was paid more than £10,000 for one gig.
Other journalists who received more than £10,000 for a single engagement include BBC News presenter Maryam Moshiri, paid at least £31,000 across 10 events, Today’s Nick Robinson, who received at least £25,000 for three events, Naga Munchetty, at least £21,000 across eight events, and Jeremy Bowen, at least £20,000 for three events.
Today presenter Emma Barnett was also paid more than £10,000 for one event.
The most prolific journalist in terms of external events was Ireland correspondent Mark Simpson, who took part in 21 external engagements at a minimum total pay of £2,000 and maximum pay of £29,000. Some 19 of these were paid at the minimum band of between zero and £1,000.
Cyber correspondent Joe Tidy followed Simpson, having taken part in 18 events. He was mostly paid between £1,000 and £5,000 for his activities, earning him between £10,000 and £58,000.
Weather presenter Barra Best came in third with 16 events, earning a minimum of £1,000 and maximum of £20,000.
In total, 16 BBC on-air journalists received more than £10,000 participating in outside events over the course of the year.
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