Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO, was forced to justify paying staff members salaries of over £80,000 while expecting to make around 30 people redundant, at a Public Administration Select Committee meeting this week.

Sir Stuart, who was giving evidence on the voluntary sector’s role in public service delivery and the Big Society, was quizzed on high wages in the voluntary sector by Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke who criticised what he called "charity fat cats":

“You have around six people in your charity who earn £80,000. Did any of them take pay cuts when you announced possible redundancies?,” he asked.

Sir Stuart replied that NCVO has had a pay freeze for the last three years and said charities couldn’t underpay chief executives, especially those who ran large service delivery charities.

However, NCVO's accounts show that Elphicke had his facts wrong. The umbrella body's most recent accounts show that in 2009 four staff received wages of £80,000 - £90,000 and one staff member received £120,000 - £130,000.

The wage bill was reduced in 2010 with only one staff member earning £80,000 - £90,000 and one earning £120,000 - £130,000. (Two staff members earned £70,000 - £80,000).