A closed investigation, sitting quietly next to a pay rise

The story

Metro's BBC pay-list report notes, almost in passing, that Scott Mills, the corporation's highest-paid star until his sacking in March, had an internal Metropolitan Police-prompted investigation opened into serious allegations involving a boy aged under 16, between 1997 and 2000. Prosecutors decided in 2019 there was insufficient evidence to bring charges, and the file was closed. Mills earned between £745,000 and £749,999 in the year to March 2026.

The reframe

"Insufficient evidence to charge" is a specific, narrow finding, not an exoneration, and institutions are generally careful to keep those two things separate when it suits them. What is notable here is how little the 2019 closure appears to have shaped anything afterwards: the salary continued rising for years after the file closed, and the sacking in March is reported without a clearly stated cause. An institution can hold a closed file and a rising pay grade in the same hand indefinitely, right up until something forces the two into the same sentence.

Statements become evidence of concern. Targets become evidence of commitment. Consultations become evidence of engagement. Activity becomes evidence of progress. Whether the underlying problem is moving towards resolution becomes increasingly difficult to determine.The Performance of Obedience, Ch. 14