The SRA has awarded its non-executive directors pay rises well ahead of inflation.

Newly published minutes from an SRA board meeting held in private earlier this month show that members were handed their first pay increases since 2014.

The new package includes an increase in the remuneration of chair Anna Bradley from £90,000 a year to £105,000. The remaining nine members of the board – four solicitors and five lay people – will see their annual pay rise from £12,500 to between £18,000 and £20,000.

The remuneration of committee members and senior independent directors will go up by 50% to £7,500.

All the rises come into force from November.

The minutes report that the decision to increase board pay was made following a meeting of the remuneration committee in July. The committee noted that the last change had been in 2014, since which time there had been ‘significant inflationary pressure’.

The committee also outlined that the role of the board had ‘grown significantly on [sic] terms of size, complexity and organisational significance’.

Board member increases were agreed by the chair and by chief executive Paul Philip. The minutes record that the chair then left the room and the board agreed to her new pay.

The paper relating to this item was not published by the SRA as it related to issues that were ‘commercially sensitive’.

Speaking at the SRA’s media briefing on Tuesday, Bradley said the regulator had ‘fallen behind’ by not addressing non-executive pay for nine years.

She added: ‘It is a reality that if you want to keep and attract a diverse group of people, not all of whom are well-heeled and in the older stages of their lives, which is what you should seek to do, you need to think about their income.

‘We are not an outlier or at the end of the scale. One of the difficulties of compare and contrast is it is not clear how much time people are putting in. We have absolutely taken that into account.’

Board members are expected to attend and take full part in board/committee meetings as set out in their contract, prepare well for meetings and make ‘concise and timely contributions’. There are due to be 10 board meetings this calendar year, of which four will have been in person.

 

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