Scott Mills was highest paid BBC star before sacking as top earners revealed

It comes in the annual BBC report

It's that time of the year when the BBC reveals all its highest earning employers and everyone gets to see how much the stars on the screen get paid.

Of course, there's a public interest aspect as the taxpayer foots much of the bill for the publicly funded BBC, so we're all dying to know where our hard earned cash is going.

Well, it turns out that, before he was sacked, the Radio 2 Breakfast host was the top earner at the BBC.

Mills lost his job after accusations of historical sexual offences.

He co-operated with a police investigation and was not charged.

The highest earners came in the annual report on the BBC which showed that the number of TV licences in force dropped by 539,000 to 23.3 million during the last financial year.

While a number of recognisable names make the list, it is not a comprehensive one as it only shows the names of talent it pays directly.

This means a large number of famous names, such as Claudia Winkleman, Michael McIntyre and Graham Norton, are not on the list because they are paid via production companies.

The list below does not include BBC executives.

Scott Mills. Credit: Getty.

The list sees one notable person absent, Gary Lineker, who left the BBC just months into the last financial year.

He had previously topped the list multiple times.

So without further ado, here are the BBC's top earning talent for the last financial year.

The highest earners

1. Scott Mills (£745,000-£749,999)

2. Greg James (£440,000-£444,999)

3. Stephen Nolan (£425,000-£429,999)

4. Laura Kuenssberg (£405,000-£409,999)

=4 Vernon Kay (£405,000-£409,999)

6. Alan Shearer (£390,000-£394,999)

7. Justin Webb (£375,000-£379,999)

8. Naga Munchetty (£360,000-£364,999)

9. Fiona Bruce (£345,000-£349,999)

10. Sophie Raworth (£340,000-£344,999)