Charities have defended the salaries of their executives, citing the “enormous responsibility” of a position that requires “real leadership, experience, knowledge and skill”.
Their comments come after Charity Commission chairman William Shawcross warned that disproportionate salaries for executives risk bringing the wider charitable world into disrepute.
Mr Shawcross spoke out as the Daily Telegraph reported that the number of executives at charities connected to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) receiving salaries of £100,000 or more has increased from 19 to 30 over the past three years.
The Telegraph research focused on 14 foreign aid charities which make up the DEC, which raises money quickly at times of tragedy in the world.
The British Red Cross said the salary of its chief executive Sir Nicholas Young, who is paid £184,000, is “far from a secret”, adding that it was “fully committed to transparency and accountability”.
In the financial year 2012/13, Oxfam said its chief executive Mark Goldring was paid £119,560 a figure the charity says is in “the lower quartile of what other large charities paid for their chief executives”.
Oxfam said: “We believe this is a fair reward for a job that involves long hours, large amounts of time away from family and overseeing a £360 million organisation that runs everything from a 700-branch national shop network to major emergency responses and long term development work.”