ScotRail ex-boss Verster may still get a £50k bonus
THE controversial outgoing boss of ScotRail is set to walk away with a five-figure bonus despite the chaos which has plagued the country’s railways in recent months.
Phil Verster last week quit as the £260,000-a-year managing director of the ScotRail Alliance to take up a new role in England.
The South African’s new post will see him remain an employee of Network Rail which means he will still be in the taxpayer-funded firm’s executive committee bonus scheme.
This will see him eligible for a pay -out of up to £50,000 in 2016/17 – a period where he will have mostly worked for ScotRail and when Scotland’s railways were besieged by delays to services and improvement projects.
The Sunday Post was the first to reveal Mr Verster’s eye-watering salary, which makes him the highest-paid public sector worker in Scotland, and how he got a free flat paid for by the public purse for a year.
Meanwhile, new figures have revealed bosses and workers across Network Rail shared a total bonus pot of £27 million last year.
A Scottish Labour spokesman said: “Last year was a year of disruption on our railways, and passengers are fed up with delayed, overcrowded and cancelled trains.
“The situation was so bad that ScotRail and the SNP had to agree an improvement plan but performance targets are still not being met.
“Given the level of disruption, passengers would rightly question whether bonuses should be awarded for this financial year.
“SNP Transport Minister Humza Yousaf, who has promised passengers they will see improvements by March, should make clear if he believes such bonuses are acceptable.”
Mr Verster was one of 12 members of Network Rail’s executive committee who shared a bonus pot of £500,826 in 2015/16.
The amount the South African received has not been disclosed but the maximum bonus for committee members is 20% of their salary, so he could have banked up to £50,000.
Mr Verster has been in charge of the ScotRail Alliance – formed as a partnership involving Abellio ScotRail and Network Rail – since May 2015 and is to become managing director of the East West rail project between Oxford and Cambridge.
The 53-year-old has been facing intense pressure in recent months after ScotRail missed a string of punctuality targets.
Earlier this month it was revealed Mr Verster was given £17,000 to pay the rent on a £400,000 apartment in one of Edinburgh’s desirable areas.
Mr Verster’s generous salary package also includes free private healthcare for him and his family and a £10,000 car allowance.
Last year The Sunday Post revealed how an anonymous whistleblower had made a complaint that Mr Verster may have breached strict rules about public employees accepting freebies from suppliers. Bosses at Network Rail called in accountancy firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers to investigate the whistleblower’s claims.
A Network Rail spokesman said: “Mr Verster’s salary and benefits package won’t change between his old and new role. Our internal investigation into the whistleblower’s allegations is yet to conclude and this change is completely unconnected.”