Stephen Nolan
BBCNI presenter Stephen Nolan earns between £390,000 and £394,999 from the licence fee
The BBC presenter Stephen Nolan’s pay increased by around £65,000 in 2019-20.

He earned between £390,000 and £394,999 from the licence fee, compared with around £325,000 in 2018-19.

The figure is contained in the BBC’s latest annual report, which gives pay details of its top earning stars.

Mr Nolan’s pay is for presenting the Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster, The Stephen Nolan Show on BBC Radio 5 Live and Nolan Live on BBC One Northern Ireland.

The figure released by the BBC does not include payments for other programmes he presents like Top Table, as they are made by an independent production company.

A BBC NI spokesperson said: “Stephen’s salary represents his income across many projects including his network programmes BBC Radio 5 Live, his daily BBC Radio Ulster shows and live television work.

“His published salary each year may vary, depending on when payments for work completed are actually made.”

The report also reveals that the pay of BBC Northern Ireland director Peter Johnston rose again.

He earned between £195,000 and £199,999 in 2019-20 compared to between £175,000 and £179,999 in 2018-19, which was a rise from between £150,000 to £159,999 in 2017-18.

The BBC NI spokesperson said this was the “appropriate rate for the scale and scope of the role”.

“Peter’s salary was adjusted more than a year ago after a number of pay freezes for senior management and was part of BBC-wide benchmarking to bring salaries in line with industry standards.

“Other nation’s directors are paid similar salaries. In addition to his 14-year role as director of BBC Northern Ireland, Peter is also required to lead on a number of pan-BBC initiatives and projects,” the spokesperson said.

The annual report lists 109 senior executive staff at the BBC who earn over £150,000.

Payments that BBC stars receive from independent production companies are not revealed in the annual report.

Gary Lineker was again the BBC’s best paid star, earning about £1.75m during the year – the same as 2018-19.

Mr Lineker’s pay from the BBC was mainly for presenting Match of the Day.

His fellow Match of the Day presenter, the former England striker Alan Shearer, earned between £390,000 and £394,999.

Stephen Nolan’s pay makes him one of the top 10 best paid presenters in the BBC.

Four women – Fiona Bruce, Zoe Ball, Lauren Laverne and Vanessa Feltz – also made the top 10 in 2019/20.

‘£59m spent on NI output’

The annual report estimates that the BBC earned £93m in licence fee income from Northern Ireland in 2019-20, down from £97m in 2018-19.

Of that income, £59m was spent on Northern-Ireland specific output – BBC Northern Ireland TV, BBC Radio Ulster and Foyle and BBC Northern Ireland online services.

The annual report also reveals more details about BBC programmes and services in 2019-20.

From April 2019 to March 2020 – the period covered by the annual report – over 90% of the UK population used the BBC each week.

However the BBC is facing increasing competition from subscription services, with 13m households in the UK paying for Netflix for example.

But BBC audiences for both linear TV and digital programmes remained strong.

The BBC drama Normal People, for example, was requested 55m times on BBC iPlayer from early April until the end of July.

On television, Line of Duty – most of which is filmed in Northern Ireland – attracted an audience of 13.2m people for the first episode of Series Five.

91% of adults and 81% of children use BBC radio, TV or online every week, making it by far the most-used media organisation in the UK.

However, the BBC has to make substantial savings in the years ahead.

It has to save £125m in 2020-21 with “more to come next year,” according to the chairman Sir David Clementi, the chair of the BBC.

The gender pay gap at the BBC continues to fall.

In 2019-20 the pay gap between men and women was 6.2%, down from 6.7% in 2018-19.

That has been a source of considerable controversy in recent years.

However, the BBC has fallen short of its target for women in leadership roles, as women make up 45% of senior leaders in the BBC – short of the 2020 target of 50%.

With many thanks to: BBCNI and Robbie Meredith North of Ireland Education Correspondentfor the original story