Public Administration Select Committee inquiry on charity chief executive pay

The Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) invited written evidence on the issue of salaries for chief executive officers in the charity sector, ahead of an oral evidence session on this topic, currently scheduled for Tuesday 17 December.

NPC’s submission is focussed on a belief that charities should be judged on the impact they create. These are the summary points:

• Skilled and experience leadership is needed to make the most of charities’ resources—and this needs to be paid for;
• The chief executive role is a demanding and often complex one, comparable to leadership roles in other sectors, and thus they need to be paid competitive salaries;
• Charities need to invest in their running costs, including chief executive pay, to ensure that their organisations operate effectively;
• The focus should be on impact—the overall difference achieved by a charity—and the role of the chief executive in ensuring this;
• Chief executive pay should not be seen in isolation from the overall pay structure of a charity;
• Remuneration is an important governance issue and should be treated as such; and
• Regulating chief executive salaries would not help charities achieve greater impact, and might in fact distract from this goal.