News / Finance director pay revealed

NHS finance directors in England last year received an average pay rise of 3.3% giving them an average salary of just under £116,000 according to a survey of boardroom pay from employment data specialist Incomes Data Services.

The finance director data, provided exclusively to Healthcare Finance, reveals that foundation trust finance directors earn more than colleagues in trusts, and both earn more than primary care trust directors (although the figures make no allowance for organisation turnover).

The figures are not exact as the survey is based on directors’ pay as published in annual accounts, which lists pay in £5,000 bands. Each director is assumed to be on the midpoint in their band.

Salaries for finance directors in FTs ranged from £87,500 to £185,000 with a median of £122,500 and an average of £125,236. For trusts the range was £77,500 to £172,500 (median £115,000, average £115,660), while in PCTs directors earned between £62,500 and £145,000 (median and average both around £106,000).

Pay rises in Scotland and Northern Ireland, based on small samples, were 0.8% and 0.7%, which amounted to an average director pay of £110,000 and £85,000 respectively. Welsh health board directors earned an average of £108,000.

According to IDS, chief executive pay in England rose by an average of 4.5% to an average of £158,800. Steve Tatton, editor of the IDS executive compensation review, said this was three times higher than the Department of Health’s management pay guidance increase of 1.5%.

l More details about the IDS NHS boardroom pay report 2011, which is available for purchase, can be found at www.incomesdata.co.uk