Eight in ten NHS hospital trust directors now earn over £100,000

A new pay study on NHS trusts shows that almost 80% of non-medical directors are paid more than £100,000 a year, although salary rises in 2014/15 were somewhat muted. These are some of the findings from a new report by pay analysts E-reward.co.uk based on around 1,400 NHS hospital trust directors drawing on the latest available information.

Other headline findings from the survey include:

• Board-level turnover levels are running at around 30% with attrition rates higher in non-foundation trusts (35%) compared to their foundation counterparts (27%) in the year to March 2015.
• There was an absence of salary increases for most directors with median levels registering no change for five major non-medical NHS board-level roles – chief executives, finance directors, human resources directors, nursing and operations directors.
• In fact, around 60% of board members were subject to pay freezes.
• NHS reorganisation is still ongoing as illustrated by the £116 million redundancy costs incurred by 229 UK NHS trusts and health boards.

Steve Glenn, E-reward.co.uk’s Head of Executive Remuneration Research, commented:

‘While the reorganisation of the NHS continues apace, it must be worrying that during this critical period board-level turnover is running at such high levels. But despite these pronounced rates of attrition, NHS remuneration committees have managed to keep a tight lid on directors’ pay rises.’

'NHS Hospital Trusts: Boardroom Pay 2016', E-reward.co.uk, February 2016. Based on 267 NHS hospital trusts and health boards in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, with data collected on over 2,300 directors and 20 board-level roles. Our latest survey extracted data from the most recent NHS annual reports and accounts (with year-end dates of 31 March 2015). To order your copy (£195 + VAT), please visit: www.e-reward.co.uk/executive-pay/...