BBC publishes talent pay list topped once again by Gary Lineker

Match Of The Day presenter Lineker retains his spot with the highest pay packet, of between £1,750,000 and £1,754,999.

Former Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans is still on the list, with around £1.25 million, as he only quit his Breakfast Show in December.

Graham Norton completes an all-male trio at the top, pocketing between £610,000 and £614,999 for payments for his Radio 2 presenting job and “a range of programmes and series”, not including his chat show.

That is up on Norton’s salary of £600,000 to £609,999 published last year.

Evans’s Breakfast Show replacement Zoe Ball is one of the women to make the top 10 for the first time, with £370,000 to £374,999.

The figure for her salary will rise next year as she only started her job in January.

Claudia Winkleman is now in the top 10 – as other big-name stars such as Today presenter John Humphrys have taken pay cuts.

But her salary, of around £370,000, does not include payments for Strictly Come Dancing.

Vanessa Feltz completes the list of three women in the top 10, with around £355,000 for work on Radio 2 and Radio London.

Men in the top 10 include TV newsreader Huw Edwards, who has taken a pay cut and is now on around £490,000 and fourth in the list.

DJ Steve Wright has also taken a cut and is on around £465,000 and in fifth place.

But Match Of The Day pundit Alan Shearer’s listed salary has gone up.

He is on £440,000 to £444,999, up from £410,000 to £419,999 last year.

The figures are the first salary disclosures since the BBC announced it would be scrapping the universal free TV licence for over-75s.

And they came after the BBC’s director-general said the public backs the broadcaster giving high salaries to “big stars” because they are “talented and entertaining”.

The top 10 also includes Andrew Marr (£390,000) and broadcaster Jason Mohammad (£355,000), whose salary has also gone up from between £260,000 and £269,999 in the last published list.

BBC director-general Tony Hall said the broadcaster had “turned the corner on gender pay”.

He said: “When we first published the figures for top talent, there was a 75:25 split between men and women.

“The projection for 2019/20 is now 55:45. This is significant change. The task is not complete, we are not complacent, but we are well on our way.”

He said the broadcaster was “holding our own against the big streaming giants”.

Citing “record levels of efficiency”, he said: “The decision to continue funding free TV licences for over-75s on pension credit makes it all the more important that the BBC does everything possible to help itself financially.”

The BBC announced that free licences will be restricted to over-75s who claim pension credit from June 1 next year.

Stars such as Len Goodman and Dame Esther Rantzen have criticised the end of the universal payments, and many have urged the Government to commit to the funding.