Dozens of NHS managers are paid more than Theresa May despite promises to crack down on executive salaries
- At least 25 bureaucrats in the NHS got more than £150,000 in salaries last year
- Another 423 from clinical commissioning groups got paid more than £100,000
- Highest paid was management consultant James Murray, on at least £300,000
Stephen Adams for The Mail on Sunday
Dozens of local NHS managers pocket more than the Prime Minister – despite promises to crack down on executive pay.
The Mail on Sunday has discovered that at least 25 bureaucrats at county-level NHS clinical commissioning groups received more than £150,000 in salary and bonuses last year.
According to an analysis of the latest annual reports from CCGs across England, a further 423 individuals were paid more than £100,000, with hundreds more part-time board members earning in excess of Theresa May’s salary on a pro-rata basis.
Many of the managers received six-figure rewards while presiding over cuts such as restricting access to hip surgery or IVF.
Among the highest paid was management consultant James Murray, who received at least £300,000 as chief financial officer of South West London CCG Alliance. Margaret Ashworth, the interim chief financial officer of Coastal West Sussex CCG, was paid between £295,000 and £300,000 for a ten-and-a-half month period.
Her colleague Ralph McCormack, executive lead for stabilisation and transition, received between £275,000 and £280,000 for the full year. The biggest earner on a pro-rata basis was Carl Pettitt, former interim CFO of Camden CCG, who received between £195,000 and £205,000 for five months’ work split over two financial years – the equivalent of an annual salary of between £468,000 and £492,000.
However, Camden CCG used total rather than pro-rata earnings in its annual report, stating: ‘No individual CCG Very Senior Managers have been paid more than £150,000 in 2017-18.’
CCGs were introduced in 2013 following reforms led by former Health Secretary Andrew Lansley and are responsible for the planning and commissioning of health care services.
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At least 25 bureaucrats at county-level NHS clinical commissioning groups received more than £150,000 in salary and bonuses last year
John O’Connell, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, called the figures ‘alarming’.
A spokesman for SW London CCG Alliance said the cost of employing Mr Murray ‘included agency fees, VAT and employer National Insurance contributions’. He is now on a permanent £140,000-a-year contract.
NHS Coastal West Sussex CCG said both Ms Ashworth and Mr McCormack had been in ‘past interim positions’ which had since been filled permanently.
A spokesman for NHS Camden said: ‘We engaged Ernst & Young in 2017-18 to provide a chief finance officer during a time of transition. Payments include a consultancy fee and VAT.’
NHS England said: ‘A cap was introduced in 2016 for all new employees and, as set out in the NHS Long-Term Plan, a further 20 per cent reduction in administrative costs will be made this year, with savings reinvested in frontline care.’