That’s rich... SNP ‘poverty tsar’ will earn £300 a day!
NICOLA Sturgeon’s ‘poverty commission’ will be headed by a chairman earning nearly £10,000 for working only 30 days a year.
An advert for the new boss of the public body states that the successful applicant will rake in more than £300 a day.
This means the hourly rate is about £38, five times greater than the £7.38 an hour paid under the statutory minimum wage.
But as the time commitment is only 30 days in the first year, the commission chairman will earn a total of £9,180.
Last night there was concern that a body aiming to advise ministers on tackling poverty would be headed by such a highly paid boss.
Scottish Tory equalities spokesman Annie Wells said: ‘To many people, this will seem like a lot for a chairman to be paid in stark contrast to those the organisation is trying to help.
‘It’s absolutely vital that jobs like these attract the right people with the right experience, but public money must be spent thoughtfully.
‘Ultimately, whoever takes this job must be worth the pay packet.’
Miss Sturgeon said the commission would ‘advise and challenge the Government on further actions to reduce poverty’.
The Scottish Government had already established a ‘non-statutory’ commission – with no legal foundation – but from next July it will be relaunched as a statutory body, enshrined in law.
Ministers are now advertising for a chairman to head the quango once it has been formally established. Earlier this year, the Mail revealed the organisation would cost taxpayers £100,000 for only eight months of work.
The eight-strong panel of experts has been asked to provide ‘independent advice’ to ministers.
A total of £12,500 a month will be spent on ‘salaries’ and funding support staff, admin and research for a chairman, his two deputies and five commissioners.
The temporary chairman of the commission until now has been Douglas Hamilton, former head of Save the Children in Scotland. Ministers have refused to disclose how much members are paid but the remuneration for the new chairman’s post is now known because of a job advert for the role published online.
The advert states that the daily rate is £306 and claims the job is ‘an exciting opportunity to lead a new public body and influence policy to reduce poverty and inequality in Scotland, working closely with a range of stakeholders, including Scottish ministers, to do so’. The chairman will report directly to Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell.
The Child Poverty Act, which came into force last year, contains targets which state that by 2030, less than 10 per cent of children should be living in relative poverty – calculated on the basis of how many families are on low incomes compared with middle income-households.
Less than 5 per cent should be living in absolute poverty – measuring how many lowincome families are not seeing their living standards improving over time.
Last night Harry Fone, campaigns manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘At five times the minimum wage, taxpayers will surely question such a high salary for a public official. I suspect many taxpayers would prefer to see tax cuts rather than their money funding another government entity.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘The remuneration advertised is in line with the public sector pay policy for senior appointments, chairs and members daily fee framework, and we expect the chair to work an average of four days a month on core business.’
‘Must be worth the pay packet’