Over 270 charities pay bosses more than the prime minister
A spokesperson said he waived his fees and salary this year due to the pandemic, and Alexander Beard, chief executive, agreed to take a 25% pay cut from his £ 297,000 salary .
The English National Ballet, the South Bank Center, the National Gallery, the British Museum and the Tate were all among those who sent executives home with more than £ 200,000 in salary and bonuses, according to annual reports.
The Design Museum, with income of £ 13.2million for the year ending March 31, 2020, paid its highest salary of around £ 175,000 to one of its former directors while going through a cash flow crisis due to low number of visitors.
In contrast, the Victoria and Albert Museum – with an income of £ 117.4million and over 4million visitors – paid director Dr Tristram Hunt a salary of around £ 145,000. However, Dr Hunt’s pay package was increased to around £ 220,000 when pension contributions and a bonus of £ 20,000 were added.
The Design Museum said it has since appointed Tim Marlow as the new director and CEO, who voluntarily agreed to a 25% pay cut from April to October and whose salary for future accounts will fall in the bracket of salary from 150,000 to 160,000 GBP.
Small charities are on the rich list
Small venues have also signed sky-high salaries, with Roger Wright, the director of Britten Pears Arts, which runs two venues on the Suffolk coast, with a higher salary than the boss of the Royal Albert Hall.
Similar disparities were seen at Caudwell Children, a charity with an income of £ 6.4million and just over 200 employees, which gave managing director Trudi Beswick a pay raise of £ 50,000 for push his salary into the £ 350,000 to £ 360,000 salary range.
This is more than double the relatively modest salary of £ 143,000 of Kevin Watkins, Managing Director of Save the Children UK, which has an income of over £ 300million and more than 6,000 staff and volunteers.
A small charity providing sheltered accommodation was found to have paid its boss over a quarter of its total annual income of £ 659,000 in the year up to March 2020.