BBC Radio 2's Scott Mills: ‘It's odd for everyone to know your salary'
Scott Mills, 52, is a household name and presents The Scott Mills Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2 to a daily audience of around 6.45 million.
He began his career at a local radio station in Southampton at the age of just 16, before going on to host shows for BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2, becoming one of the broadcaster's most high-profile presenters.
In 2023-24, Mills reportedly earned £315,000, ahead of his promotion in January, when he took over the prime breakfast spot from Zoe Ball. He is also the host of a new podcast associated with Mercedes-Benz, Vans Under the Bonnet: On the Road Podcast, which is aimed at Britain's van drivers.
Mills lives in Hertfordshire with his husband Sam Vaughan and dog Teddy.
Were you aware of money and finances growing up?
I would say that my childhood was mixed, money-wise. As a young child, my dad was doing really well with his local removal company business. We would get good Christmas presents and go on holidays to Spain. But then there was a financial crash in the 1980s, and he lost almost everything. We had to sell the house, and my parents split up.
My dad had to build it all back up again from really nothing, which he did, and I'm extremely proud of [him]. It's part of the reason I wanted to do this podcast with Mercedes Benz – because my dad wasn't there when I was born, and he wasn't there for a lot of when I was growing up, because he was working so much.
I do remember being a bit worried because I didn't really understand it at that age, and obviously my parents tried to keep it from me. But suddenly, dad's cars were being sold, and we had to move house. It felt like something had changed.
Has that experience shaped your approach to money?
The thing is, I just love working. I'm prepared to put the graft in to earn the money.
For my first job, I'd hassled this local radio station for so long, eventually they were like, 'Do you fancy going on air?'. So I ended up doing the overnight show, which was 1am to 6am five days a week, and then Sunday was the Breakfast Show, 6am till 9am. This was just after my GCSEs, and I was paid £28 per show, which seemed a lot of money at the time.
I was so young that I couldn't even get to the radio station because I couldn't drive. So my mum or dad would take me there at around 11pm and I would sleep on the floor of the studio. Then my dad bought me a little Honda Vision scooter and I could make my own way to work. But it was driving through country roads at midnight when it was pitch black in all weathers. My attitude to money has been that you don't know when it might run out, or when your situation might change. I like to think that I've worked my way up.
Have you reached a point now where you feel more secure?
I still feel that insecurity a little bit. I also think that's because I work in an industry where you don't sign up thinking this is a job for life. Contracts can end, radio stations get taken over, and then they decide, 'we don't have a slot for you'. That's happened to a lot of people I know.
Through my 20s, 30s, even 40s, if I was offered work, I'd take it, sometimes at a risk to my health. I was working way too much, because my mindset was that you don't know when it might end. There was one freshers' week where my schedule for playing in student unions was: Monday: Aberdeen, Tuesday: Glasgow, Wednesday: Edinburgh. I would do my show in London, fly to Scotland, do the gig around midnight, stay over with four hours sleep, fly back, do the show in London, repeat.
I took every opportunity for 20 years, and actually I don't really want to any more. I enjoyed it, but life is different now. I want some quality of life and I'm in a position now, although I've only recently reached it, where it's okay to say no sometimes.
What do you think of social media or TikTok stars who become famous quickly?
I wouldn't say I resent those people, because fair play to them for finding that place and that niche. But I would say, really, there's no longevity in it. We're all going to get older, and you're not going to be a TikTok star, probably, in five years. So you can make a lot of money very quickly, but I would still rather the way that I've done it, which has been very gradual.
My first radio job was in Southampton when I was 16. The rise in money and the rise in career were definitely a long game, but I wouldn't have done it any other way. I am now in my 50s, I'm still doing it, and doing the best I've ever done. So there is something to be said for it.
The BBC publishes the salaries of its presenters. How does it feel to have your earnings public knowledge?
The thing is, you just have to accept that that is part of working at the BBC. The first time you realise you're on that list and then there it is in the newspaper in black and white, it's an odd feeling to be sure. It felt quite exposing, because I'm not someone who talks about money.
Have you had luck with property?
I've had mixed fortunes with properties. One of the best things I ever did was [getting] on the property ladder early, which is pretty impossible now. I bought a tiny one-bed flat in Islington, north London, when I had just started at Radio 1.
When I sold that, I moved to a place in Kentish Town, which was a real heap. My brother, who is absolutely exceptional at these kinds of things, redid the whole house from scratch. It would have cost me so much more if it weren't a labour of love, but I ended up making close to £100,000 on that place. And that enabled me to buy in Finsbury Park.
I also lived in east London for a while, which I loved at the time, but it took me so long to sell it. I think it sold for less than I paid. So I've had ups and downs.
Sam (my husband) is from Wales and he likes London, but he doesn't want to live there. So we moved out to commutable Hertfordshire, because I obviously have to still be in town five days a week. It's half an hour on the train, but it feels completely different from London and I love it. We have the dog now, and no plans to move.
Do you think you're a spender or a saver by nature?
I used to be terrible with money. Not that I was particularly extravagant, I just did not understand it. And, to a point, I still don't.
It's not that I'm going out and buying sports cars or making bad decisions, it's just that when I started to earn all right money I had no concept of how to handle it. I remember I was working on Heart Radio in London and my dad crunched some numbers for me and said, 'Do you know you're actually spending more than you're getting?'
It felt like I had to keep up with the Joneses a bit back then, and the lifestyle I had wasn't working out. I did find myself in quite a lot of trouble for a while. While I was doing the early morning show on Radio 1, bills would arrive and I just wouldn't open them.
Now I have a handle on it, but every month I put what I still call 'pocket money' into another account. Then it's on my phone, and I know and can see what I have to spend. I know this sounds like childhood or student behaviour, but it gives me that peace of mind I didn't have then.
Do you support any charities?
Yes, I support a multiple sclerosis (MS) charity because my mum has MS. I also like to think that I'm quite generous with money. There was a point around 30 years ago when my mum, before being fully diagnosed, couldn't work for a while. I remember thinking, my mum is not making ends meet. So I was in a position where I could put a bit of money into my mum's account every month. She is 70 and retired now, but it just gave her a bit of peace of mind.
That standing order is still happening to this day, so that she is in a comfortable financial place and doesn't have to worry. And now we dip into that money, it's £100 or so a month, but it's been going for so many years that we use it for medical bills or things like expensive physio. It's fantastic that something we set up so many years ago has been very useful to help my mum's quality of life later on.
Do you think you will stay on the radio forever?
I do, I think this is probably it now. When I was working in Manchester, I was extremely happy and earned enough where I never felt I had to worry. I had everything I could need, I could pay my rent and I could go out a couple of times a week.
And if that was where it ended – if I just kept working in Manchester on that money, and maybe it goes up a little bit every couple of years – I would have been happy with that. I never expected my career to escalate as much as it did.
I feel lucky every day, and when I look back, I almost can't believe that happened to me. It all goes very quickly, but I managed to have 24 years on Radio 1, then I did two years of afternoons on Radio 2. And now I have the Radio 2 Breakfast Show, which is the most listened to radio show in Europe.
That's mad to me because I grew up with very little expectation of what I could achieve.
Do you feel like you've 'made it'?
I do, and actually, for the first time, I really do believe in myself. It's like, 'you have to look at the facts. They've put you on the breakfast show. You must be doing something all right'.
But I think that radio presenters, all of them, are very insecure. You don't know when it's going to end. And there is huge impostor syndrome all around. This is my dream job, and I would do it for the rest of my time if I could.
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