The head of the super-regulator the Legal Services Board drew a £17,500 bonus last year, annual accounts have revealed.

Chief executive Matthew Hill’s bonus was up 17% on the previous year. He was the only executive director to receive an award. Hill’s salary and allowances rose by 4% to £147,500 in 2022/23, according to the organisation’s annual report and accounts. His pension contribution was unchanged at £14,000.

LSB employees, meanwhile, saw their average bonus rise from £224 to £416, while salaries and allowances rose by an average 2% to £61,029. The pay increase was in line with the 2022 pay remit directive from the Cabinet Office.

Executive directors Danielle Viall, Holly Perry and Chris Nichols (until March 2023) each received a salary of between £105,000 and £110,000 in 2022/23. Viall and Nichols were paid £90,000-£95,000 and £95,000-£100,000 respectively in the previous year.

The LSB employed 35 permanent staff in the most recent year and made no redundancies. Total staff costs, including the Legal Services Consumer Panel and Office for Legal Complaints board, rose 5% to £3.16m.

The remuneration of the chief executive is determined following a recommendation to the LSB by a separate committee and in consultation with the Ministry of Justice. The performance of the chief executive is reviewed annually by the chair.

The LSB, which oversees legal services regulators and is funded by a levy on the profession, continues to work within budget – albeit a budget that consistently rises year-on-year.

Underspend was £32,000 out of the £4.29m budget in 2022/23; the previous year it was £51,000 out of a £4.1m budget.

The LSB has already agreed a budget of £4.68m for 2023/24 – a rise of 9.1%, although it stresses that when adjusted for inflation the budget has effectively decreased in real terms. Staff costs will rise this year by 9.4% to £3.46m.

In the annual accounts, Hill states: ‘The LSB continues to strive to achieve value for money and this is a realistic level of expenditure provided that the underlying assumptions remain consistent with the LSB’s ability to fulfil its statutory function.’

 

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