According to its Croner Reward 2012-13 Charity Rewards report, the largest pay and benefits survey of charity organizations in the UK, the average pay for chief executives in charities is currently £75,617. Only a small minority are earning over the PM’s £142,500, as reported yesterday.
Viv Copeland, Head of Reward at Croner, says: “I can understand why chief executive pay is perceived to be a problem for the donating public. However in reality most charity chiefs are earning much less than their private sector counterparts.
“A key issue for the charity sector has always been the culture of transparency and justification of pay levels because of the nature of their income and resources. “But charities are complex organizations these days and they have to pay a fair salary if they are going to attract the right talent to do a professional job for the charity.
“However, with the economic climate as it is, a charity has to make sure its remuneration package is competitive yet at the same time not excessive.”