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Inside Housing chief executive salary survey 2020
The results of our annual survey of housing association CEOs’ salaries are in. Jess McCabe delves into the data from 162 landlords. Illustration by Peter Strain
How much are housing association chief executives paid? Every year, Inside Housing strives to answer this question through an exhaustive survey.
The results from 162 associations are in, and we can tell you that pay for housing’s top bosses has risen again. The average CEO was paid £181,086 in 2019/20, up 2.29% on last year. That is well above inflation of 1.5%. You can read more about the methodology of how we compile the survey in the following pages, and also more about what the survey can tell us about how much CEOs are paid, and why.
Chief executive pay is inevitably under great scrutiny – a trend that is only likely to continue as coronavirus impacts on the economy. Whether housing associations should be comparing themselves just to each other (most say their chief executive pay is an exercise in benchmarking to other similar landlords), or to councils, house builders or charities, or even to the prime minister’s salary, is very much a subject of debate.
While average pay continues to increase, the data shows that there really is a huge amount of variability in sector pay. Two chief executives took home well over £400,000, but the vast majority – 110 – earned less than half that figure.
And remember that overall pay does not always tell the full story (another way to think of this is in terms of pay per home, and pay per million pounds of turnover – go to the online version of the salary survey for more on this).
Biggest risers
Although the average pay rise for the sector was relatively modest, some figures do stand out – as you can see in our table of the 10 associations that have given their chief executives the biggest increases (below).
Some of the biggest risers in essence represent the association hiring a new chief executive on a larger salary than they paid the previous incumbent – in these cases, it is not so much a pay rise for the individual chief executive, but they have been included as this does represent a substantial – in one case more than 30% – increase in how much the association is spending on chief executive pay.
That association – GreenSquare – sent a spokesperson comment to say: “The remuneration committee considers factors such as market forces, attracting and retaining talent, and uses independent external benchmarking in setting salaries.”
The general gist of responses was, “we think our chief executive is worth it”, or that previous pay packets were out of alignment with the sector.
Stonewater, which posted a 21.95% increase in its chief executive salary, is one of those in the table where the pay rise is not linked to a change in personnel. A spokesperson from the association instead links the decision to a “complete salary review of all colleagues”. They continue: “At the same time, an independent review of the chief executive’s salary was undertaken to ensure it was comparable to that of other chief executives of housing associations of a similar size and complexity.”
Some of those who posted salary rises were at pains to point out this was not something they took lightly – including Mosscare St Vincent’s, which increased its chief executive Charlie Norman’s salary by 8.1% (substantially above inflation, and the sector average, but only the 31st-biggest pay rise in the sector).
A spokesperson says: “At merger this [pay] was set at median minus 10% and had not been reviewed for three years – Charlie felt strongly she did not want it reviewing. This year, our board undertook an independent review (which they have a duty to do) and her salary was found to be an outlier and significantly below comparable CEO salaries across the sector. The board took the decision to go with the median suggestion from the benchmark data.”
Biggest pay rises 2019/20
| Housing association | Number of homes | Chief executive | Total salary 2019/20 | Total salary 2018/19 | Percentage change |
| GreenSquare | 12,255 | Ruth Cooke | £198,000 | £150,800 | 31.30% |
| Thirteen | 34,043 | Ian Wardle | £208,064 | £163,216 | 27.48% |
| Platform | 45,510 | Elizabeth Froude | £265,000 | £209,260 | 26.64% |
| Yorkshire Housing | 17,648 | Nick Atkin | £199,750 | £158,417 | 26.09% |
| Jigsaw | 33,480 | Hilary Roberts | £226,000 | £185,050 | 22.13% |
| Stonewater | 33,660 | Nicholas Harris | £240,625 | £197,320 | 21.95% |
| Flagship | 31,557 | David McQuade | £289,000 | £237,816 | 21.52% |
| Network Homes | 20,849 | Helen Evans | £242,525 | £206,685 | 17.34% |
Gender pay gap
Men make up 62% of the 162 CEOs, and the data shows that a gender pay gap persists. Men were paid just over £19,000 more on average than women. The average male chief executive took home a total of £188,058, compared to £169,040. This is a drastic widening of the gender pay gap from last year, from 2.2% to 10.7%.
The highest earner is a woman – Jane Ashcroft from Anchor Hanover. But of the top 10 highest earners, only three are women. If you look at the 10 bosses with the lowest salaries, you can see the opposite: seven are women, and three are men.
Chief executives’ salaries 2019/20
| Housing association | Homes owned and managed | Financial turnover 2019/2020 | Chief executive name | Basic salary | Bonus | Car allowance | Total salary 2019/20 | Total salary 2018/19 | Percentage change |
| A2Dominion | 38,124 | £320,400,000 | Darrell Mercer | £231,304 | £25,554 | £18,329 | £275,187 | £276,253 | -0.4% |
| Abri (formerly Radian)1 | 35,032 | £223,400,000 | Gary Orr | £210,650 | £14,875 | £10,000 | £235,525 | £209,208 | 12.6% |
| Accent | 20,721 | £100,496,000 | Paul Dolan | £167,305 | £0 | £5,000 | £172,305 | £169,024 | 1.9% |
| Accord | 13,277 | £124,958,000 | Chris Handy | £194,696 | £0 | £10,000 | £204,696 | £199,145 | 2.8% |
| Acis | 6,321 | £40,000,000 | Greg Bacon | £120,250 | £0 | £12,025 | £132,275 | 142,261 | -7.0% |
| Aldwyck2 | 11,136 | Tim Jennings | £170,000 | £167,000 | 1.8% | ||||
| Alliance* | 6,549 | £44,346,000 | Louise Swain | £141,724 | £0 | £0 | £141,724 | £158,000 | -10.3% |
| Anchor Hanover | 53,908 | £522,200,000 | Jane Ashcroft CBE | £335,000 | £86,681 | £15,000 | £436,681 | £415,831 | 5.0% |
| Aspire | 9,107 | £49,947,000 | Sinéad Butters | £147,839 | £0 | £10,048 | £157,887 | £154,988 | 1.9% |
| Aster | 32,039 | £214,600,000 | Bjorn Howard | £255,000 | £11,000 | £0 | £266,000 | £248,588 | 7.0% |
| B3Living | 4,899 | £34,500,000 | Steve Woodcock | £137,000 | £0 | £0 | £137,000 | £130,000 | 5.4% |
| Believe | 18,076 | £66,111,000 | William Fullen | £150,000 | £0 | £7,680 | £157,680 | £153,351 | 2.8% |
| Bernicia3 | 13,580 | £75,424,000 | John Johnston | £162,556 | £0 | £8,001 | £170,557 | £154,097 | 10.7% |
| Beyond Housing4 | 15,383 | £73,100,000 | Rosemary Du Rose | £147,900 | £0 | £13,500 | £161,400 | £223,000 | -27.6% |
| Bolton at Home | 17,186 | £83,300,000 | Jon Lord | £160,750 | £5,000 | £6,000 | £171,750 | £168,500 | 1.9% |
| Bournville Village Trust5 | 8,000 | £28,044,000 | Peter Richmond | £121,292 | £0 | £6,992 | £128,284 | £127,499 | 0.6% |
| BPHA | 19,235 | £126,254,000 | Kevin Bolt | £195,651 | £5,087 | £8,000 | £208,738 | £199,994 | 4.4% |
| Broadacres | 6,415 | £37,890,000 | Gail Teasdale | £0 | £154,000 | £150,000 | 2.7% | ||
| Broadland | 5,346 | £33,113,000 | Michael Newey | £130,000 | £0 | £13,000 | £143,000 | £137,484 | 4.0% |
| Bromford | 44,480 | £271,000,000 | Robert Nettleton | £243,700 | £0 | £0 | £243,700 | £235,100 | 3.7% |
| Bromsgrove District Housing Trust | 4,119 | £25,809,000 | Mark Robertson | £122,700 | £0 | £7,362 | £130,062 | £127,200 | 2.3% |
| Bron Afon* | 8,134 | 48,151,000 | Alan Brunt | £125,000 | £122,400 | 2.1% | |||
| Calico | 5,110 | £23,231,000 | Anthony Duerden | £125,000 | £0 | £8,552 | £133,552 | £132,759 | 0.6% |
| Castles & Coasts | 7,073 | £35,076,000 | Stephanie Murphy | £129,339 | £0 | £9,132 | £138,471 | ||
| Catalyst | 33,713 | £285,924,000 | Ian McDermott | £219,999 | £17,600 | £0 | £237,599 | £220,000 | 8.0% |
| Central and Cecil* | 1,100 | £21,739,000 | Julia Ashley | £121,000 | £121,000 | £119,000 | 1.7% | ||
| CHP | 10,520 | £66,000,000 | Mary Gibbons | £153,750 | £0 | £6,692 | £160,442 | £156,692 | 2.4% |
| Citizen6 | 30,635 | £150,610,000 | Kevin Rodgers | £191,031 | £0 | £10,000 | £201,031 | £196,372 | 2.4% |
| Clanmil* | 5,000 | £37,431,900 | Clare McCarty | £120,333 | £125,821 | -4.4% | |||
| Clarion | 125,000 | £842,000,000 | Clare Miller | £343,375 | £38,964 | £10,000 | £392,339 | £383,964 | 2.2% |
| Coastline7 | 5,596 | £36,996,000 | Allister Young | £113,985 | £9,080 | £123,065 | £129,335 | -4.8% | |
| Cobalt* | 6,000 | £27,500,000 | Alan Rogers | £125,000 | £125,186 | -0.1% | |||
| Community Gateway | 6,625 | £31,300,000 | Rob Wakefield | £136,182 | £0 | £10,162 | £146,343 | £143,193 | 2.2% |
| Connexus8 | 10,358 | £64,563,000 | Richard Woolley | £148,500 | £146,300 | 1.5% | |||
| Cottsway | 5,000 | £34,258,000 | Vivian Rosser | £147,000 | £142,000 | 3.5% | |||
| Cross Keys Homes | 11,884 | £79,126,000 | Claire Higgins | £189,720 | £3,794 | £10,000 | £203,514 | £196,656 | 3.5% |
| Curo | 13,222 | £96,000,000 | Victor da Cunha | £172,920 | £172,920 | 0.0% | |||
| Eastlight Community Homes9 | 8,907 | £48,016,000 | Emma Palmer | £146,224 | £0 | £10,000 | £156,224 | £145,000 | 7.7% |
| EMH Group | 19,885 | £111,068,000 | Chan Kataria | £178,422 | £0 | £7,356 | £185,778 | £184,626 | 0.6% |
| Estuary10 | 4,500 | £42,200,000 | Ian Martin | £147,084 | £0 | £10,670 | £157,754 | £154,982 | 1.8% |
| First Choice Homes Oldham | 11,570 | £50,777,000 | Vincent Roche | £138,240 | £0 | £6,000 | £144,240 | £144,240 | 0.0% |
| Flagship | 31,557 | £188,248,000 | David McQuade | £280,500 | £0 | £8,500 | £289,000 | £237,816 | 21.5% |
| ForViva11 | 24,000 | £117,441,632 | Colette McKune | £0 | £209,739 | -100.0% | |||
| Freebridge Community12 | 6,811 | £31,354,000 | Tony Hall | £159,000 | £142,000 | 12.0% | |||
| Futures Housing Group | 10,254 | £57,800,000 | Lindsey Williams | £159,040 | £15,470 | £15,904 | £190,414 | £185,650 | 2.6% |
| Gateway Housing | 2,883 | £20,605,000 | Kate Dodsworth | £125,000 | £6,250 | £0 | £131,250 | £133,878 | -2.0% |
| Gentoo | 28,589 | £172,200,000 | Nigel Wilson | £196,928 | £0 | £0 | £196,928 | £192,500 | 2.3% |
| Golding Homes13 | 8,000 | £57,304,000 | Gary Clark | £142,029 | £0 | £14,202 | £156,231 | £151,682 | 3.0% |
| Grand Union | 12,187 | £71,000,000 | Aileen Evans | £166,000 | £0 | £0 | £166,000 | £155,221 | 6.9% |
| Great Places | 19,376 | £120,897,000 | Matthew Harrison | £162,000 | £0 | £10,500 | £172,500 | £168,525 | 2.4% |
| Greatwell Homes | 4,957 | £25,651,000 | Jo Savage | £130,116 | £13,012 | £11,000 | £154,128 | £145,707 | 5.8% |
| GreenSquare14 | 12,255 | £84,942,000 | Ruth Cooke | £180,000 | £0 | £18,000 | £198,000 | £150,800 | 31.3% |
| Guinness | 64,039 | £359,400,000 | Catriona Simons | £285,000 | £0 | £0 | £285,000 | £265,000 | 7.5% |
| Halton* | 7,336 | £36,727,000 | Liz Haworth | £137,700 | £600 | £9,500 | £147,800 | £141,000 | 4.8% |
| Hastoe15 | 7,500 | £34,072,000 | Andrew Potter | £149,298 | £0 | £8,000 | £157,298 | £153,942 | 2.2% |
| Hexagon* | 4,300 | £37,000,000 | Tom McCormack | £142,000 | £147,000 | -3.4% | |||
| Hightown16 | 6,818 | £85,536,000 | David Bogle | £176,025 | £2,939 | £12,038 | £191,002 | £163,230 | 17.0% |
| Hillcrest | 6,090 | £57,057,496 | Angela Linton | £133,364 | £133,364 | £129,460 | 3.0% | ||
| Home Group | 55,060 | £406,096,000 | Mark Henderson | £211,454 | £26,682 | £5,484 | £243,620 | £233,295 | 4.4% |
| Honeycomb Group (formerly Staffordshire Housing)* | 3,000 | £21,100,000 | Diane Thompson | £124,000 | £120,237 | 3.1% | |||
| Horizon | 891 | £4,933,790 | Lorna Cameron | £67,386 | £0 | £4,800 | £72,186 | £69,947 | 3.2% |
| Housing 21 | 20,261 | £192,257,000 | Bruce Moore | £237,799 | £0 | £0 | £237,799 | £237,732 | 0.0% |
| Housing Plus | 18,912 | £79,858,000 | Sarah Boden | £176,719 | £16,390 | £17,645 | £210,754 | £193,282 | 9.0% |
| Housing Solutions* | 7,306 | £45,700,000 | Orla Gallagher | £172,000 | £0 | £7,686 | £179,686 | £186,000 | -3.4% |
| Hyde17 | 49,411 | £364,400,000 | Elaine Bailey | £240,691 | £0 | £8,800 | £249,491 | £275,642 | -9.5% |
| Incommunities | 22,991 | £101,351,000 | Geraldine Howley | £164,380 | £0 | £4,488 | £168,868 | £166,661 | 1.3% |
| Jigsaw* | 33,480 | £180,934,000 | Hilary Roberts | £184,320 | £16,420 | £0 | £226,000 | £185,050 | 22.1% |
| Johnnie Johnson | 4,956 | £24,844,000 | Yvonne Castle | £116,726 | £0 | £8,000 | £124,726 | £124,725 | 0.0% |
| Karbon Homes | 26,444 | £135,933,000 | Paul Fiddaman | £167,140 | £0 | £9,550 | £176,690 | £171,100 | 3.3% |
| L&Q | 104,663 | £915,000,000 | David Montague | £344,097 | £0 | £0 | £344,097 | £335,704 | 2.5% |
| Leeds and Yorkshire Housing Association18 | 1,587 | £8,550,000 | Mark Pearson | £92,000 | £6,000 | £9,800 | £107,800 | £95,000 | 13.5% |
| Lincolnshire Housing Partnership | 12,489 | £53,139,000 | Murray Macdonald | £147,430 | £0 | £0 | £147,430 | £147,000 | 0.3% |
| Link Group | 7,208 | £42,933,117 | Jon Turner | £132,313 | £6,485 | £6,000 | £144,798 | £134,055 | 8.0% |
| LiveWest | 37,384 | £248,550,000 | Paul Crawford | £240,825 | £1,688 | £7,500 | £250,013 | £228,720 | 9.3% |
| Livin* | 8,548 | £35,522,000 | Colin Steel | £152,655 | £152,655 | £147,052 | 3.8% | ||
| Livv (First Ark)19 | 14,000 | £64,988,000 | Léann Hearne | £183,337 | £0 | £10,000 | £193,337 | £175,000 | 10.5% |
| Longhurst | 23,462 | £153,800,000 | Julie Doyle | £214,603 | £17,306 | £0 | £231,910 | £203,507 | 14.0% |
| Magenta Living | 12,645 | £63,550,000 | Brian Simpson | £143,959 | £0 | £14,396 | £158,355 | £158,355 | 0.0% |
| Magna | 8,882 | £45,708,000 | Selina White | £133,250 | £0 | £0 | £133,250 | £130,000 | 2.5% |
| Maryhill* | 3,100 | £13,456,896 | Bryony Willett | £87,715 | £87,715 | £85,743 | 2.3% | ||
| Metropolitan Thames Valley20 | 57,836 | £465,000,000 | Geeta Nanda | £265,000 | £0 | £0 | £265,000 | £241,875 | 9.6% |
| MHS | 9,064 | £54,000,000 | Ashley Hook | £158,875 | £22,837 | £7,850 | £189,561 | £179,566 | 5.6% |
| Midland Heart | 33,000 | £200,934,000 | Glenn Harris | £235,000 | £0 | £12,000 | £247,000 | £248,000 | -0.4% |
| Moat | 20,956 | £142,000,000 | Elizabeth Austerberry | £215,441 | £11,311 | £5,515 | £232,267 | £241,787 | -3.9% |
| Mosscare St Vincent’s* | 8,425 | £45,814,000 | Charlie Norman | £140,536 | £140,536 | £130,000 | 8.1% | ||
| Muir | 5,500 | £28,600,000 | Catherine Dixson | £125,973 | £12,597 | £138,570 | £128,766 | 7.6% | |
| Network Homes21 | 20,849 | £205,700,000 | Helen Evans | £206,192 | £24,333 | £12,000 | £242,525 | £206,685 | 17.3% |
| Newlon | 8,042 | £91,000,000 | Mike Hinch | £146,448 | £5,871 | £7,248 | £159,567 | £155,817 | 2.4% |
| Notting Hill Genesis | 66,453 | £731,500,000 | Kate Davies | £275,000 | £0 | £0 | £275,000 | £268,000 | 2.6% |
| Nottingham Community | 9,589 | £77,174,000 | Paul Moat | £140,725 | £0 | £0 | £140,725 | £131,000 | 7.4% |
| Ocean | 4,749 | £33,567,000 | Mark Gardner | £140,000 | £10,080 | £14,000 | £164,080 | £166,880 | -1.7% |
| Octavia22 | 5,000 | £58,700,000 | Grahame Hindes | £119,688 | £143,201 | -16.4% | |||
| One Housing | 17,109 | £213,800,000 | Richard Hill | £205,964 | £0 | £5,400 | £211,364 | £226,936 | -6.9% |
| One Manchester23 | 12,634 | £60,300,000 | Dave Power | £156,608 | £0 | £0 | £156,608 | £154,000 | 1.7% |
| Ongo | 9,950 | £45,840,000 | Stephen Hepworth | £147,757 | £8,000 | £14,775 | £170,532 | £170,133 | 0.2% |
| Onward Homes | 34,938 | £155,700,000 | Bronwen Rapley | £181,109 | £0 | £8,500 | £189,609 | £182,875 | 3.7% |
| Optivo | 45,000 | £321,979,000 | Paul Hackett | £241,511 | £5,516 | £0 | £247,027 | £245,885 | 0.5% |
| Orbit Group | 44,753 | £323,000,000 | Mark Hoyland | £274,000 | £0 | £10,000 | £284,000 | £311,340 | -8.8% |
| Origin | 6,959 | £55,922,000 | Carol Carter | £156,060 | £0 | £0 | £156,060 | £153,000 | 2.0% |
| PA Housing24 | 22,733 | £149,500,000 | Dilip Kavi | £209,000 | £0 | £10,000 | £219,000 | £204,000 | 7.4% |
| Paradigm | 15,215 | £129,200,000 | Matthew Bailes | £161,578 | £3,162 | £0 | £164,740 | £158,100 | 4.2% |
| Peabody | 66,367 | £662,000,000 | Brendan Sarsfield | £276,249 | £31,800 | £0 | £308,049 | £281,484 | 9.4% |
| Phoenix | 6,254 | £33,500,000 | Jim Ripley | £140,250 | £250 | £0 | £140,500 | £137,925 | 1.9% |
| Places for People25 | 209,312 | £866,700,000 | David Cowans | £391,790 | £0 | £18,715 | £410,505 | £574,611 | -28.6% |
| Platform26 | 45,510 | £257,100,000 | Elizabeth Froude | £250,000 | £0 | £15,000 | £265,000 | £209,260 | 26.6% |
| Plus Dane | 13,450 | £73,977,000 | Barbara Spicer | £160,000 | £0 | £0 | £160,000 | £160,000 | 0.0% |
| Plymouth Community Homes | 16,033 | £76,181,000 | John Clark | £167,280 | £0 | £10,455 | £177,735 | £173,400 | 2.5% |
| Pobl* | 15,588 | £144,300,000 | Amanda Davies | £183,000 | £163,000 | 12.3% | |||
| Poplar Harca | 9,712 | £63,700,000 | Steve Stride | £170,640 | £25,786 | £4,057 | £200,483 | £193,000 | 3.9% |
| Progress Housing Group | 10,295 | £79,892,000 | Jacqueline De-Rose | £167,477 | £0 | £8,814 | £176,291 | £172,328 | 2.3% |
| Queens Cross | 4,500 | Shona Stephen | £103,306 | £101,081 | 2.2% | ||||
| Raven* | 7,000 | £49,300,000 | Jonathan Higgs | £150,000 | £140,404 | 6.8% | |||
| RBH | 12,669 | £58,300,000 | Gareth Swarbrick | £133,776 | £0 | £0 | £133,776 | £121,857 | 9.8% |
| Red Kite | 6,500 | £35,610,000 | Trevor Morrow | £135,423 | £0 | £8,882 | £144,305 | £144,305 | 0.0% |
| Regenda | 11,723 | £69,287,000 | Michael Birkett | £176,811 | £0 | £11,000 | £187,811 | £184,344 | 1.9% |
| RHP | 9,207 | £55,150,000 | David Done | £176,000 | £0 | £0 | £176,000 | £172,000 | 2.3% |
| River Clyde27 | 5,800 | £28,000,000 | Kevin Scarlett | £137,000 | £132,000 | 3.8% | |||
| Riverside Group | 58,360 | £356,000,000 | Carol Matthews | £228,512 | £0 | £7,448 | £235,960 | £234,563 | 0.6% |
| Rooftop | 6,940 | £43,056,000 | Boris Worrall | £129,791 | £8,000 | £137,791 | £134,500 | 2.4% | |
| Saffron Housing Trust28 | 6,448 | £37,887,000 | Yvonne Arrowsmith | £141,000 | £141,000 | £141,000 | 0.0% | ||
| Salix Homes | 8,154 | £40,188,000 | Lee Sugden | £137,971 | £0 | £963 | £138,934 | £136,229 | 2.0% |
| Sanctuary Group | 102,686 | £763,000,000 | Craig Moule | £300,000 | £0 | £14,035 | £314,035 | £313,666 | 0.1% |
| Saxon Weald | 6,761 | £47,684,000 | Steven Dennis | £139,913 | £250 | £13,991 | £154,154 | £144,787 | 6.5% |
| Scottish Borders | 5,637 | £23,864,119 | Julia Mulloy | £110,894 | £110,894 | £103,441 | 7.2% | ||
| Selwood | 6,400 | £41,900,000 | Barry Hughes | £134,000 | £0 | £0 | £134,000 | £129,909 | 3.1% |
| Settle | 9,463 | £64,122,000 | Gavin Cansfield | £164,000 | £500 | £0 | £164,500 | £165,500 | -0.6% |
| Shepherds Bush | 5,063 | £45,611,000 | Matthew Campion | £153,000 | £0 | £0 | £153,000 | £149,016 | 2.7% |
| Silva | 6,620 | £50,042,000 | Alan Ward | £168,713 | £0 | £16,871 | £185,584 | £181,500 | 2.3% |
| Soha Housing29 | 6,685 | £49,616,000 | Kate Wareing | £133,250 | £2,500 | £9,750 | £145,500 | £129,389 | 12.5% |
| South Lakes | 3,153 | £16,736,000 | Catherine Purdy | £109,830 | £0 | £0 | £109,830 | £116,000 | -5.3% |
| South Liverpool Homes | 3,744 | £19,700,000 | Julie Fadden | £145,343 | £10,794 | £156,137 | £148,787 | 4.9% | |
| South Yorkshire Housing Association | 5,008 | Tony Stacey | £140,000 | £138,456 | 1.1% | ||||
| Southern* | 30,130 | £236,800,000 | Alan Townshend | £232,927 | £232,927 | £200,148 | 16.4% | ||
| Sovereign | 59,517 | £411,000,000 | Mark Washer | £284,825 | £0 | £284,825 | £250,000 | 13.9% | |
| Sovini | 13,407 | £64,200,000 | Roy Williams | £145,972 | £39,882 | £14,278 | £200,132 | £196,356 | 1.9% |
| Stonewater | 33,660 | £189,000,000 | Nicholas Harris | £205,000 | £25,625 | £10,000 | £240,625 | 197,320 | 21.9% |
| Swan | 11,646 | £170,456,000 | John Synnuck | £228,888 | £25,000 | £0 | £253,888 | £257,400 | -1.4% |
| Tai Tarian | 9,483 | £51,123,000 | Linda Whittaker | £141,270 | £141,270 | £128,000 | 10.4% | ||
| The Community Housing Group30 | 6,056 | £38,985,000 | David Knowlton | £153,000 | £153,000 | ||||
| Thirteen | 34,043 | £185,700,000 | Ian Wardle | £204,481 | £0 | £3,583 | £208,064 | £163,216 | 27.5% |
| Thrive | 5,000 | £32,200,000 | Elspeth Mackenzie | £137,700 | £20,250 | £0 | £159,000 | £152,754 | 4.1% |
| Together Housing Group | 36,628 | £182,672,000 | Steve Close | £190,000 | £0 | £0 | £190,000 | £164,711 | 15.4% |
| Torus | 39,006 | £200,000,000 | Steve Coffey | £215,000 | £0 | £16,125 | £231,125 | £231,125 | 0.0% |
| Trafford Housing Trust31 | 9,439 | £62,283,000 | Larry Gold | £144,683 | £0 | £14,495 | £159,178 | £156,585 | 1.7% |
| Trent & Dove | 6,000 | £30,467,000 | Ursula Bennion | £131,500 | £11,000 | £7,500 | £150,000 | £143,215 | 4.7% |
| Trivallis | 10,000 | £56,139,000 | Ian Thomas | £144,872 | £0 | £14,487 | £159,359 | £151,470 | 5.2% |
| United Welsh | 6,148 | £37,581,000 | Lynda Sagona | £126,359 | £0 | £12,636 | £138,994 | £138,994 | 0.0% |
| Vale of Aylesbury | 8,310 | £46,088,000 | Matthew Applegate | £154,117 | £14,792 | £9,000 | £177,909 | £171,919 | 3.5% |
| Vivid | 31,000 | £326,660,000 | Mark Perry | £219,837 | £215,000 | 2.2% | |||
| Wakefield and District Housing* | 31,639 | £158,491,000 | Andrew Wallhead | £166,925 | £0 | £5,000 | £171,925 | £177,000 | -2.9% |
| Wales & West Housing | 12,018 | £68,000,000 | Anne Hinchey | £156,600 | £0 | £7,000 | £163,600 | £143,000 | 14.4% |
| Wandle | 7,495 | £56,700,000 | Tracey Lees | £152,576 | £152,576 | £149,000 | 2.4% | ||
| Watford Community Housing | 4,973 | £33,297,000 | Tina Barnard | £145,000 | £4,100 | £8,000 | £157,100 | £137,700 | 14.1% |
| Weaver Vale Housing Trust | 6,297 | £32,878,669 | Wayne Gales | £131,564 | £0 | £5,263 | £136,827 | £131,956 | 3.7% |
| West Highland Housing Association | 894 | £6,148,835 | Lesley McInnes | £68,775 | £0 | £0 | £68,775 | £65,955 | 4.3% |
| Westward Housing | 7,548 | £39,690,000 | Barbara Shaw | £140,000 | £0 | £0 | £140,000 | £137,025 | 2.2% |
| Wheatley Group | 92,885 | £357,057,000 | Martin Armstrong | £283,509 | £0 | £12,269 | £295,778 | £282,602 | 4.7% |
| WHG32 | 21,263 | £112,183,000 | Gary Fulford | £184,589 | £0 | £18,459 | £203,048 | £198,000 | 2.5% |
| Wythenshawe Community | 13,633 | £63,986,000 | Nick Horne | £155,000 | £0 | £10,000 | £165,000 | £171,856 | -4.0% |
| Yorkshire Housing33 | 17,648 | £114,316,000 | Nick Atkin | £194,750 | £0 | £5,000 | £199,750 | £158,417 | 26.1% |
| Your Housing Group | 26,814 | £150,853,000 | Brian Cronin | £190,000 | £0 | £19,000 | £209,000 | £204,054 | 2.4% |
* Data has been taken from accounts
1 Yarlington joined Radian (now Abri) in November 2019. Gary Orr was re-appointed group CEO of Radian at point of partnership
2 Aldwyck became part of Catalyst during year. Mr Jennings became part of executive team at Catalyst as part of process
3 Mr Johnston donated 50% of the benefit of his 2019 pay increase to the Bernicia Foundation
4 Beyond Housing formed during the 2018/19 financial year from merger of Coast & Country and Yorkshire Coast. Figure given is total salary in accounts for Owen Ingrams, outgoing CEO of Yorkshire Coast. Inside Housing has been unable to clarify how much outgoing CEO of Coast & Country, Iain Sim, was paid. Mr Sim retired after merger. In that year, Ms Du Rose was paid annualised salary of £158,000
5 BVT’s financial year runs for calendar year, so figures represent 2019 pay
6 2018/19 figures relate to WM Housing, before it was renamed as Citizen and amalgamated its subsidiaries
7 £9,080 is listed as unspecified ‘other emoluments’ in accounts. It has been included in the total
8 2018/19 salary relates to predecessor Peter Brown
9 2018/19 figures have been annualised. Data still relates to the time before the merger of Greenfields had completed
10 During financial year, Paul Durkin was replaced as CEO by Mr Martin. Inside Housing has not been able to get information about how much Mr Durkin was paid on exiting organisation
11 Colette McKune replaced Tim Doyle as chief executive during financial year. The association has not responded to this survey, or repeated requests for this information, and it had not published its annual accounts by press time
12 Mr Hall retired and was replaced by Anita Jones in 2020
13 Mr Clark has been replaced by Sue Chalkley, who in 2019/20 was paid an annualised salary of £150,000
14 2018/19 figures relate to salary of Ms Cooke’s predecessor, Howard Toplis
15 2018/19 numbers have been updated, as last year’s survey took this information from Hastoe’s accounts, producing a figure which did not include car allowance
16 Mr Bogle left the SHPS pension scheme in February 2019 and his salary package was adjusted to compensate. Mr Bogle’s bonus includes a long-service award of £1,091
17 Peter Denton took over as CEO in September 2019, on an annual salary of £255,905. He received a bonus of £19,340, based on seven months in post, and an annual car allowance of £8,800
18 Mr Pearson was interim chief executive in 2018/19
19 Data taken from annual accounts, and may include additional costs to the business in this case. Inside Housing was unable to clarify Ms Hearne’s total pay by press time
20 Figure for Geeta Nanda’s salary in 2018/19 was made up of £220,000 pre 8 October 2018, and £265,000 post 8 October 2018 once Metropolitan and Thames Valley merged. Her salary of £265,000 remains the same
21 For 2019/20 a one-off payment of £20,000 was made which was an unconsolidated amount in lieu of pension contributions. A further £5,627 was paid as a one-off payment from sale of annual leave and reimbursements. This will bring total salary to £268,152 as per published accounts. Similarly, in 2018/19 a one-off payment of £20,000 was made which was an unconsolidated amount in lieu of pension contributions. A further £8,091 was paid as a one-off payment from sale of annual leave and reimbursements. This would bring total salary for 2018/19 to £240,553 as per published accounts
22 This data was taken from the accounts. During the financial year, Mr Hindes was replaced by Sandra Skeete. She was paid £86,410. Accounts do not include an annualised calculation for either salary, which may affect numbers
23 Mr Power was replaced in January 2020 by Nicole Kershaw. His salary figure has been annualised. Ms Kershaw’s annualised basic pay was £153,538
24 In last year’s survey, Mr Kavi’s car allowance of £10,000 was excluded from total salary in error. This has been corrected
25 As a result of pandemic, bonus for the year ending 31 March 2020 has not been determined and is therefore not included
26 2018/19 data relates to predecessor David Pickering
27 Information has been taken from annual accounts. Mr Scarlett resigned after the end of the financial year
28 James Francis replaced Ms Arrowsmith part-way through financial year, on an annualised salary of £135,000, a bonus of £3,585 and a car allowance of £13,500
29 2018/19 total salary has been taken from annual accounts – however this is stated as total payment to both chief executives in that year. Normally the comparable figure would be the annualised salary of CEO, but as this figure was unavailable we have printed the number in the accounts
30 Data is from accounts – David Knowlton is interim chief executive
31 Trafford Housing Trust was acquired by L&Q on 1 October 2019 and Larry Gold became permanent CEO on this date. Prior to this, he was both CEO-designate and acting chief executive from 1 November 2018 to 30 September 2019
32 Total salary includes a healthcare payment 33 2018/19 figures relate to previous CEO Mervyn Jones
Bonuses
Out of all the associations, 42 told us they awarded a bonus this year. This ranges from the nearly £87,000 awarded to Anchor Hanover’s Jane Ashcroft, down to Jim Ripley of Phoenix Community and Steven Dennis of Saxon Weald, who took home £250 each.
Sovini gave the second-biggest bonus. A spokesperson told us that the group, whose association arm trades as One Vision Housing, is “performance-focused, and 20% of the remuneration package is dependent on the achievement of stretching targets”.
Biggest bonuses 2019/20
| Housing association | Chief executive | Bonus 2019/20 |
| Anchor Hanover | Jane Ashcroft CBE | £86,681 |
| Sovini | Roy Williams | £39,882 |
| Clarion | Clare Miller | £38,964 |
| Peabody | Brendan Sarsfield | £31,800 |
| Home Group | Mark Henderson | £26,682 |
| Poplar Harca | Steve Stride | £25,786 |
| Stonewater | Nicholas Harris | £25,625 |
| A2Dominion | Darrell Mercer | £25,554 |
| Swan | John Synnuck | £25,000 |
| Network | Helen Evans | £24,333 |
Highest earners
The highest-paid chief executive this year is Anchor Hanover’s Jane Ashcroft. Being a care provider makes up much of its business, and the organisation notes it is competing with for-profits. Chair Christopher Kemball explains that a remuneration committee made up of non-executive directors, and advised by specialist consultants, is responsible for setting Ms Ashcroft’s pay.
“Total remuneration reflected performance in meeting demanding financial, compliance, customer and employee targets for the year,” he says, before adding: “In April, the regulator gave the organisation its top rating of ‘G1/V1’ for governance and viability. Of our 114 care homes, nine were rated ‘Outstanding’ at their latest CQC inspections, with a further 97 rated ‘Good’. This makes Anchor Hanover the most compliant of large national residential care providers in England.”
Second on the list is, unusually, David Cowans, chief executive of Places for People. Mr Cowans has been knocked off the top spot, after he took home a total of £410,505 – a 28.6% cut on the previous year. This is due to a decision to hold off on calculating a bonus for Mr Cowans in light of coronavirus. The association did not respond to requests to explain the situation more fully, and it is unclear whether a bonus will be paid, but its annual accounts state that the bonus could be as high as 50% of his basic salary. This means his bonus could be nearly £196,000, a figure that is higher than the average total salary for a chief executive. Last year, he received £182,525 as a bonus.
The third-highest-paid chief executive was Clare Miller of Clarion. Its chair David Avery told Inside Housing: “The remuneration of our senior staff is set at the median level for organisations of a similar size and complexity. Under Clare’s leadership, the group has built a record number of new homes and overall customer satisfaction was last measured at 83.3%. The board believes Clare’s salary represents excellent value for money.”
Highest earners 2019/20
| Housing association | Number of homes | Chief executive | Total salary 2019/20 |
| Anchor Hanover | 53,908 | Jane Ashcroft CBE | £436,681 |
| Places for People | 209,312 | David Cowans | £410,505 |
| Clarion | 125,000 | Clare Miller | £392,339 |
| L&Q | 104,663 | David Montague | £344,097 |
| Sanctuary | 102,686 | Craig Moule | £314,035 |
| Peabody | 66,367 | Brendan Sarsfield | £308,049 |
| Wheatley | 92,885 | Martin Armstrong | £295,778 |
| Flagship | 31,557 | David McQuade | £289,000 |
| Guinness | 64,039 | Catriona Simons | £285,000 |
| Sovereign | 59,517 | Mark Washer | £284,825 |
Race and chief executive pay
Inside Housing asked all associations in the survey to provide demographic information about their chief executives, including their race. Only 89 organisations chose to do so, so the data does not give a complete picture.
For the first time, we had hoped to provide an indication of whether there is a race pay gap in housing. However, the figures provided do not allow us to do so.
Out of these 89, the overwhelming majority – 86, or 96.6% – identified as white. The other three chief executives identified as Asian. None identified as Black.
Top 10 highest pay per home
| Housing association | Pay per home owned/managed | Chief executive |
| Central & Cecil | £110.00 | Julia Ashley |
| Horizon | £81.02 | Lorna Cameron |
| West Highland Housing Association | £76.93 | Lesley McInnes |
| Leeds and Yorkshire | £67.93 | Mark Pearson |
| Gateway Community Housing | £45.53 | Kate Dodsworth |
| South Liverpool Homes | £41.70 | Julie Fadden |
| Honeycomb Group (formerly Staffordshire Housing) | £41.33 | Diane Thompson |
| Estuary | £35.06 | Ian Martin |
| South Lakes | £34.83 | Catherine Purdy |
| Ocean | £34.55 | Mark Gardner |
Methodology
We sent a detailed survey form to 162 housing associations across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The vast majority filled in this information – but for some associations, we had to use information in their annual accounts to fill in the blanks.
In the case of only one association, we were unable to find any information. The missing details relate to how much ForViva paid its chief executive. During 2019/20, Tim Doyle was replaced by Colette McKune. ForViva did not respond to repeated requests for the information, and its accounts have not yet been published.
To arrive at a total pay figure, we added together chief executives’ basic pay to any bonus and car allowance. Although increasingly chief executives are receiving payments in lieu of pension contributions, these are not included in the total.
A number of landlords told us of corrections in their 2018/19 figures. We were also able to fill in some details that were withheld by associations when they filled in our survey last year, either through them supplying the details, or using their annual accounts. For this reason, the average pay for 2018/19 has been calculated as £177,016 – last year we reported the figure as £174,896.
23.10.2020 9.46am UPDATE
The story has been updated to include a comment from GreenSquare.
23.10.2020 2.00pm UPDATE
WHG's entry in the table has been updated, after the figures in error compared Mr Fulford's salary in 2018/19 excluding national insurance, and in 2019/20 including national insurance. This error caused it to seem as though Mr Fulford had a large pay rise which put him in the table of top 10 pay rises in the sector. In fact his pay rise was 2.5%.
23.10.2020 5.14pm UPDATE
Livv's entry has been updated - initially our data for 2018/19 showed Ms Hearne's salary was £165,000. However, in error this excluded her car allowance. This means her pay rise for the year was 10.5%, not 17%, as initially reported. This also means she is no longer in the top 10 pay rises for the year.
29.10.2020 9.25am UPDATE
The salary of Gentoo chief executive Nigel Wilson has been updated - the association mistakenly supplied his salary information for 2020-21, instead of 2019-20. He was paid £196,928 not £200,866, so his pay rise was 2.3%.
6.11.2020 2.10pm UPDATE
Details for Thrive chief executive Elspeth Mackenzie have been updated, due to confusion over what should have been included in the total salary figure. Her salary rose 4.1%, rather than falling 4.5%, as we originally reported.
