Average chief exec salary tops £150k
The chief executives of England’s largest housing associations are paid £11,000 more than the prime minister on average, according to an Inside Housing survey.
Fifty two bosses of the largest 100 UK housing associations took home more than the £142,500 earned by David Cameron. The average salary of those polled was £153,353.
The results emerged as housing minister Grant Shapps’ rounded on chief executive pay at the National Housing Federation conference, stating that the public ‘want to know how many people [here] think that their job is tougher than being prime minister’.
‘I want to know how it can be justified to pay enormous salaries which are ultimately being paid for either through the hard work and toil of taxpayers or worse, from the rents of tenants who may be the people in society least able to afford your salary,’ he said.
Mr Shapps also called on associations to follow his department’s lead and publish details of all spending of more than £500 in a new ‘spirit of openness’.
Inside Housing’s annual chief executive salary survey reveals that the highest paid housing head in 2009/10 was Jane Ashcroft, chief executive of Anchor Trust. She received a total package of £290,000.
Anchor chair Aman Dalvi said: ‘Remuneration as a proportion of turnover remains significantly less than many housing associations pay to their chief executives.’
Other high earners include David Bennett, chief executive of Sanctuary Group, who took home £285,444, and David Cowans, chief executive of Places for People, who received £279,095.
The highest bonus of £22,000 went to Keith Exford, chief executive of Affinity Sutton.
There are signs housing associations are showing increasing restraint when awarding bonuses. Sixteen per cent of housing association chief executives received discretionary performance related pay in 2009/10 – compared with 71 per cent in 2008/09.
David Orr, chief executive of the NHF defended the high salaries received by housing heads. ‘Running a housing association is a complex task,’ he said.
The full results of Inside Housing’s 2009/10 chief executive salary survey will be published in the magazine and online this Friday.
