How Christian Aid pays its staff
The effective stewardship of resources is core to the vision and values that underpin Christian Aid’s work in seeking to bring about a fairer, more equitable world.
We recognise the important responsibility we have to the poor communities we work with, our donors, supporters and the general public, to ensure we are open and transparent on how we use the funds that are so generously donated for the work we undertake.
We are committed to ensuring value for money in everything we do and this includes how we remunerate our staff. We operate a policy that is fair, equitable and consistent to attract, motivate and retain capable staff that have the skills and experience we require to implement the work we do.
What are our pay principles?
Our salaries are set within in a policy that reflects the values and ethos of the organisation, benchmarking against other comparable charities and church organisations at a level that is just below or at the median of these comparators.
The basic principle for determining salaries is that employees carrying out the same or similar jobs in the same location are paid the same or similar salary. Salaries differ where jobs are of a different size, complexity, responsibility and accountability.
Tackling global poverty and social injustice is highly complex and we value the contribution that each individual employee makes to our organisation’s success. Our approach to reward is guided by the following principles which are applied equally to all our staff wherever they are located and whatever their position:
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We will provide a total reward package which recognises contribution to the achievement of our aims.
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Our reward offering will be competitive in the marketplace from which we draw the people we need.
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The reward decisions we make will be consistent and based on objective assessment of our organisational needs.
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Wherever we can we will offer flexibility and choice so that individuals can achieve what is most relevant and has most value to them.
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We will make arrangements which comply fully with relevant legislation wherever we are operating.
How is pay governed?
The implementation of our remuneration policy, which is set by the Board, is overseen by the Remuneration Committee. This committee has delegated authority to provide governance oversight and input on all matters concerning the principles and policies governing the pay and benefits of Christian Aid staff. Its responsibilities include:
- To consider any suggested changes to those principles and policies and make recommendations to the Board.
- To make recommendations to the Board for any necessary adjustments, consistent with affordability within agreed budget parameters.
- To collect and consider evidence of movements in the external pay market as it affects Christian Aid, and to make recommendations to the Board for any necessary adjustments required to ensure Christian Aid is able to recruit and retain appropriately skilled staff to implement its strategy effectively.
- To make recommendations from time to time to the Board on the broad policy framework and overall costs of the remuneration of the Chief Executive and the Directors and to determine the salary of the Chief Executive.
Our lower salary band for all employed staff in the UK and Ireland is above the Living Wage, as is the salary of all third party contracted cleaning staff employed in our UK and Ireland regional and national offices. Christian is an accredited “Living Wage Employer”.
For salaries of staff based in the UK and Ireland, the Board has adopted the “Hutton Fair Pay Review” recommendation which limits the differential of pay between the highest paid person and others, using a ratio based on the median salary.
The Board has set this ratio at 4:1 on UK salaries. The salaries for our internationally based staff are set within their local employment market, against a benchmark of other comparable organisations, consistent with our overall remuneration policy.
Further information on what we currently spend on salaries, including the salary of the Chief Executive, can be found in our 2016/17 Annual Report.
How much is Christian Aid’s Chief Executive paid?
Christian Aid’s Chief Executive, Amanda Khozi Mukwashi, earned £132,000 last year. We recognise that this is a large sum of money. Christian Aid makes every effort to avoid paying higher salaries than are necessary. We pay our staff salaries the same as, or below, the median of other church-based and/or international development agencies.
A recent survey of UK charities showed that we pay significantly below the average pay of £167,000 for CEO’s of the top 100 charities, in terms of income, in the country.
The Chief Executive role carries an immense amount of responsibility. This includes the stewardship, governance and oversight of how we spend our £106m annual income, the welfare of up to 900 staff and the projects we support to help lift millions of people out of poverty.
Within Christian Aid we are committed to the idea that transparency empowers – that’s why we’re already one of the most transparent organisations in the sector. We’ve always been clear on who earns what and we’re accredited with the highest international standards of transparency.
How do we manage annual pay reviews?
Each year, Christian Aid conducts an annual pay review of staff salaries. In the UK and Ireland we calculate inflation rates using the average of Average Weekly Earnings Index (AWE) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Any inflationary award or other necessary adjustments made on salaries are subject to affordability. For our internationally based staff we use country data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for calculating cost of living increases for country offices. Adjustments are implemented on April 1.