Sheffield TV host Dan Walker takes £20,000 pay cut as BBC star salaries revealed

The BBC Breakfast and Football Focus host earned between £260,000 and £264,999 during the last finanical year, statistics released by the Corporation show today.

Last year, according to the same report, he is understood to have earned between £280,000 and £284,999 a year – following a trend which has seen several of the organisation’s stars receive a wage cut.

Walker, 43, has hosted Football Focus since 2009 and BBC Breakfast since 2016.

His fellow BBC star, Match of the Day host Gary Lineker has agreed a £400,000 pay cut – although the former England footballer is still the BBC’s highest earning star with a salary of £1.75 million.

But he has since signed a new contract, which will see that fee cut by 23%.

That means he could earn less than Zoe Ball next year. The Radio 2 presenter has seen her pay rise by £1m since taking over the breakfast show in 2019.

Fiona Bruce and Lauren Laverne have also moved into the top 10 of the BBC's highest-paid stars, which features four women for the first time. Vanessa Feltz is also among the top earners, the corporation's annual report shows.

Overall, the BBC's total salary bill for on-air talent in 2019/20 rose by £1m to £144.6m.

When salaries were made public last year, Walker admitted he found the disclosure ‘embarrassing” but added: “I do think I provide good value. I work my backside off six days a week and I have done for a long time.”