Almost 80% of top NHS managers earn more than £100,000, pay poll finds

Updated

Almost eight out of 10 of the most senior NHS managers earn over £100,000, with almost a quarter on more than £142,500, figures show.

Overall, 23.6% of hospital trust non-medical executive directors in the UK earned more than £142,500 in 2015, compared to 21.8% in the previous year.

There were some top earners - with 3.5% earning more than £200,000 a year.

Some 5.6% also earned between £175,000 and £200,000, while 14.5% earned between £142,600 and £175,000.

The pay study found that, overall, there has been a slight rise in the number of non-medical directors at NHS trusts earning over £100,000.

Some 77.4% of non-medical directors were paid more than £100,000 in 2015, up on 75.5% the previous year.

Meanwhile, 53.8% earned between £100,000 and £142,500 and 22.6% earned less than £100,000.

In the largest NHS trusts (income over £425 million), chief executives typically earned £202,500 in 2015.

Most of the top-paid chief executives are employed by the largest trusts in terms of income, including University College London Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' and Cambridge University - who all received salaries in excess of £250,000.

The survey was carried out by pay analysts E-reward.co.uk and is based on around 1,400 NHS hospital trust directors.

While just 8% of full-time, full-year directors in UK trusts registered bonuses in the last 12 months, some bonuses were substantial.

The chief executive of Oxford University Hospitals received the highest amount at between £30,000 and £35,000 in recognition of performance, the survey found.

Some medical directors also earned up to £60,000 in bonuses for clinical excellence.

The survey also reported record levels of board-level turnover in the year running at over 30% and overall redundancy costs of more than £116 million in 229 trusts.

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