Minister for civil society Nick Hurd has said that people with concerns about high pay in charities should refer them to the Charity Commission.
In response to a Parliamentary question from Democratic Unionist Party MP David Simpson about what steps the Cabinet Office is taking to “stop excessive salary payments to executives of charities”, Hurd replied: “It is important that charities are transparent about their remuneration. Charity accounting rules require disclosure of charity employees in each £10,000 income band over £60,000.
“Specific concerns of disproportionate executive pay in a charity in England or Wales should be referred to the Charity Commission.”
Invited to respond, the Charity Commission said that decisions on executive pay is a matter for a charity’s trustee board and concerns about disproportionate pay should also be directed to them in the first instance.
But it added that if there are specific concerns about how the decision was made, such as potential mismanagement or conflict of interest, or there were concerns that the charity was not properly disclosing pay, “these may cause regulatory concern for the Commission and may need to be referred to us”.
Bernard Jenkin, the chair of the select committee that oversees the voluntary sector’s activities, also urged greater transparency on the issue in the sector, in an interview with civilsociety.co.uk.
The Public Administration Select Committee recently hosted an evidence session on executive pay in the sector, even though the subject falls outside its remit.
Jenkin said that there was concern in the committee that the issue needed to be aired, even though it will not produce a report.
He added: “My view is that what jars with the public is high salaries that seem to conflict with the values that that charity is aiming to project, But many charities have to pay high salaries particularly for technical or medical expertise and they just need to explain. Again, transparency and explanation is the way to deal with it.
“The classic Save the Children bazaars, fetes and collections do not initially seem compatible with a very high salary of one of the Save the Children executives. So it’s up to the charity to square the circle and to explain, and to be open.”
