We are serious about being the best we can be for the world’s children. Securing the right people to deliver our ambitions is key to our strategy. One of the many ways we do that is through our reward structure. We commit to paying staff a fair salary that is competitive within the charity sector, proportionate to the complexity and responsibilities of each role, and in line with our charitable objectives.
We are accredited by the Living Wage Foundation and committed to three key principles for pay:
- equality/fairness
- responsible financial management
- market competitiveness in line with the wider charity sector.
We will pay all staff a living wage of at least £11.05 per hour in London and £9.90 per hour in the rest of the UK, as of 31 March 2022. We tracked the Living Wage Foundation rates in 2021.
Financial constraints continued to restrict our approach to pay management last year. That is why we decided not to apply a workforce-wide pay award, although we did provide some discretionary increases to bring some staff closer to our median pay level.
We continued to top up the government-funded furlough scheme to maintain employee salaries at 100% until the scheme closed in April 2021. We extended special leave provisions for those with caring responsibilities during the second lockdown. And our family leave policies are generous for the sector.
We acknowledge that debates over pay – and executive salaries, in particular – are important and reflect genuine public concerns. We are committed to achieving the right balance between recognising these concerns while ensuring our salary levels help attract the talent we need to run an effective and efficient multinational organisation. The People Committee oversees our pay policy and decides on the salaries of our Chief Executive and executive directors (see here).
You can read our Diversity & Inclusion Report, which includes information on our pay gaps here. We have also signed the pledge to Show the Salary. For further details on staff salary and pension costs see note 8, page 78 (here) and note 25, page 94 (here), in our Annual Report.
