Parry's pension
THE appointment of Richard Parry as Chief Executive of Canal & River Trust (CaRT) once again raises the controversial issue of directors remuneration within the Trust, writes Allan Richards.
On appointment his basic salary of £175,000 per year will actually be less than two directors under British Waterways.Evans & Ridal
British Waterways' two highest paid directors were Robin Evans, Chief Executive and Philip Ridal, Finance Director. Under British Waterways, Robin Evans was paid £222,000 per year and Philip Ridal £183,063. Under CaRT, Robin Evans basic salary was reduced by £27,000 per year. It is not known if Philip Ridal's salary was reduced because the figures released by CaRT bear no relation to to British Waterways audited accounts!
As such, a possibility exists that CaRT's incoming Chief Executive will be paid less, as basic salary, than than one of his direct reports.
Remuneration explained
As regular narrowboatworld readers will know, under British Waterways, directors remuneration packages consist of four elements. First we have basic salary. Then we have taxable benefits averaging £10,000 per director. The third element is bonus which could be up to 30% (most directors), 35% (Finance Director) or 40% (Chief Executive). Finally, there is the 'high earner' pensions where salary is increased by massive tax free payments into a pension scheme.
CaRT says that some directors salaries have been adjusted upwards and some downwards. Bonus now ranges from 15% to 30% rather than 30% to 40%. However, on the matter of taxable benefits it has remained silent suggesting that directors are still entitled to £10,000 or more benefits in kind.
Worse still, on the issue of pensions, CaRT are completely dumb suggesting that the abuse of high earner pensions is still continuing.
High earner pensions
To provide examples of how much directors are being paid via 'high earner pension' schemes (or is that scams?) we will take directors on the highest and lowest basic salary (Robin Evans and Simon Salem) and compare total salary (basic salary + benefits + bonus) against remuneration paid via high earner pension. The figures are the latest available (2011/12).
Robin Evans was paid £248,683 total salary and £359,867 via his 'high earner pension'. Total £608,550. This figure rather shows the chief executives apparent £27,000 reduction in salary under CaRT as somewhat meaningless!
Simon Salem was paid £158,306 total salary and £266,057 via his 'high earner pension'. Total £424,363. Yes, this is CaRT's lowest paid director!
How much?
So how much will Richard Parry really be paid?
Will his £175,000 basic salary be tripled via bonus, benefits and a 'high earner pension' to ensure he is paid more than CaRT's other directors?
If not, what will he feel like knowing that directors who have failed to double visitor numbers, failed to become financially self sufficient and failed to eliminate maintenance backlog are being paid two to three times as much as him...?