16 February 2010
The salary of the next head of the Audit Commission has not been capped despite public furore over ‘fat cat’ pay in publicly funded bodies.
Michael O’Higgins, chair of the local government spending watchdog, told Public Finance that no ‘top line, base line or middle line’ salary had been set for a successor to current chief executive Steve Bundred. Bundred, who leaves the quango at the end of March, is currently paid about £225,000 a year.
An advert for the job appeared in this week’s Sunday Times but did not specify a salary. It merely stated that Bundred’s replacement would be given ‘a substantial six-figure package’, prompting speculation that the salary would be set at a lower level and cause difficulties in recruitment.
But O’Higgins said: ‘Nobody has said they will be paid less. We want to attract the best possible field of candidates. When we have a short list we will then look at pay and decide what we have to offer to attract the best person and give the best value for money.’
He emphasised that the board had not yet set a figure. It was dependent ‘on who emerges in the field and how good we think they are’, he said. But he added: ‘If there are two people of similar quality and one is paid a bit less [currently], that might be a helpful difference. But let’s get the people and the quality first.’
O’Higgins’ comments came despite pledges by all main political parties to stamp down on ‘excessive’ public sector pay. Last year Prime Minister Gordon Brown attacked a ‘culture of excess’ among public servants and said the Treasury would have to approve salaries above £150,000 for new jobs. The Conservatives said anyone paid more than the prime minister’s salary of £197,000 would need the chancellor’s approval.
