Homeless

[Mr D]

While I would love to agree with you, and I do believe there are a number of charities that do excellent and valuable work, would you care to comment on the charities commission complaint yesterday about the RSPCA paying an excessive severance payment to their temporary CEO?

Or the numerous charities that pay their CEO's more than the Prime Minister is paid to run the country? There are abuses, some of them serious, and I would suggest that the whole sector needs a thorough overhaul.

Why, for example, is Eton school a charity and able to benefit from enormous tax breaks because of its status?

Because it registered as a charity and qualifies, same as any other charity has to.
Not sure tax breaks are enormous, and think of the saving government makes on considerable education costs. Private schools save the government billions in education costs they would otherwise have to find if the schools didn't exist.

 

[Inva]

That's ok, I don't help people who feel entitled enough to pass judgment on others, based on nothing more than a bias.

You mean like what you're doing right now?

I can visualise the first two, the last is more questionable.
Do you wait and see if their children take part in the local church parade of scouts / guides etc first before deciding?

I can understand why it would seem questionable, but where i live there is a certain group of people who use their children as "begging assistants". It's too widespread to be random, feels more like a business plan. In the UK this may not be a thing though. In any case, children should be at school and not not in the streets begging. I surely will not reward that.

 

[Mr D]

You mean like what you're doing right now?


I can understand why it would seem questionable, but where i live there is a certain group of people who use their children as "begging assistants". It's too widespread to be random, feels more like a business plan. In the UK this may not be a thing though. In any case, children should be at school and not not in the streets begging. I surely will not reward that.

Depends on the child these days - homeschooling is popular. The days of children only being at school or truant went decades ago.

In Britain the children begging is a time honoured tradition, penny for the guy in the run up to November 5th.
Plus Halloween, though that's begging for sweets. I give candy floss, payback on the parents.

 

[deniser]

I would add sanitary towels and tampons to your list. These are expensive for ladies generally and must be difficult for the homeless to afford.

 

[alan1302]

Depends on the child these days - homeschooling is popular. The days of children only being at school or truant went decades ago.

Even if they are home schooled they are still not that likely to be out and about...still unusual to be home schooled in the UK - 50,000 vs 8.2 million in school.

 

[alan1302]

Or the numerous charities that pay their CEO's more than the Prime Minister is paid to run the country? There are abuses, some of them serious, and I would suggest that the whole sector needs a thorough overhaul.

Do you think anyone that works for a charity should earn less than the PM?

 

[UKSBD]

it will be interesting to see what bonus the top people at Oxfam get in a couple of years due to a big increase in donations collected this year.

By then it will be forgotten that a businessman left them £41million and they will try to take the credit for the big increase.

 

[Newchodge]

Do you think anyone that works for a charity should earn less than the PM?

I think most people who work for a charity should earn less than the PM.

 

[Mr D]

I think most people who work for a charity should earn less than the PM.

Great news then, your thinking is politically and realistically correct.
Most people who work for a charity indeed earn less than the PM.

However, how much is a member of staff who brings in say a million pounds a year in income worth?
How much is someone who brings in £10 million a year?
£20k a year wage? £30k a year wage? £100k a year wage?
Very few fundraisers get paid as much as they would in a sales role, though a specialised sales position they occupy. Selling the charity within their specific sphere of sales.

How much should a highly skilled chief executive with a multi million pound annual budget and an organisation operating in multiple countries get paid?

Should we base commercial decisions (and charities do operate on a commercial basis a lot of the time) on the pay of a particular government worker who also gets a chunk of expenses covered by the state?

 

[Mr D]

Even if they are home schooled they are still not that likely to be out and about...still unusual to be home schooled in the UK - 50,000 vs 8.2 million in school.

It happens.
My sister home schooled her older children for years and was stopped a few times by officials investigating truancy.
They didn't have the make work the schools did and were often out with her during the day if she went to the beach, shopping or visiting tourist attractions.
Amuses me that schoolkids in a group at the zoo are considered to be on a school trip while 2 kids with their mum at the same zoo on the same day for the same purpose some would consider as truant.

 

[ethical PR]

While I would love to agree with you, and I do believe there are a number of charities that do excellent and valuable work, would you care to comment on the charities commission complaint yesterday about the RSPCA paying an excessive severance payment to their temporary CEO?

Or the numerous charities that pay their CEO's more than the Prime Minister is paid to run the country? There are abuses, some of them serious, and I would suggest that the whole sector needs a thorough overhaul.

Why, for example, is Eton school a charity and able to benefit from enormous tax breaks because of its status?

I agree there are some rotten apples in the basket - that doesn't mean the thousands of other charities, some of which are run on a completely voluntary basis are bad or badly run.

Nor do I necessarily agree that CEOs of larger charities shouldn't be paid a market rate for their work.

There are many CEO's in both the charitable, public and private sector who are paid more than this country's PM (before all the consultancy gigs MPs have of course).

And I am 100% behind you on the public schools issue. I agree they shouldn't have charitable status.

 

[ethical PR]

You mean like what you're doing right now?


I can understand why it would seem questionable, but where i live there is a certain group of people who use their children as "begging assistants". It's too widespread to be random, feels more like a business plan. In the UK this may not be a thing though. In any case, children should be at school and not not in the streets begging. I surely will not reward that.

So you have of course contacted your local social services/LEA to report that these children are begging rather in schools haven't you????

 

[Newchodge]

Nor do I necessarily agree that CEOs of larger charities shouldn't be paid a market rate for their work.

I agree they should be paid a market rate, but setting that market rate in a market where there is huge wage inflation, frequently without justification, is an issue. For example CEO salaries in the top 100 FTSE's increased by, on average, 11% last year, while the wages of the workers in those companies increased by less than 3%. That may be justified, but it doesn't 'sound' right. If charities compare themselves with those organisations, there may well be overpayment to chief officers, while those doing the charity's work are under-recognised.

 

[Mr D]

I agree they should be paid a market rate, but setting that market rate in a market where there is huge wage inflation, frequently without justification, is an issue. For example CEO salaries in the top 100 FTSE's increased by, on average, 11% last year, while the wages of the workers in those companies increased by less than 3%. That may be justified, but it doesn't 'sound' right. If charities compare themselves with those organisations, there may well be overpayment to chief officers, while those doing the charity's work are under-recognised.

What did the CEOs of the 100 FTSE increase their company worth by?
Say a CEO increases the company value by say £100 million, how much should they get as a reward in terms of pay?

There really isn't any justification in basing commercial decisions on the pay of a single government employee. Then you would get into whether he or she is paid enough or whether they should have much higher compensation. Or indeed any pay at all.

You might ask the directors about the pay rise or the shareholders of the company. Its really not the concern of anyone else. I don't know what pay rise you give yourself nor do I care - its no more my business than what the CEO of a company in the FTSE I don't own gets paid.

 

[alan1302]

Say a CEO increases the company value by say £100 million, how much should they get as a reward in terms of pay?

Whatever they signed up at the start. If they increase the profit then they are doing their job as that's what they are there to do. If they reduce profits by 10% then reduce their pay by 10%

 

[Mr D]

Whatever they signed up at the start. If they increase the profit then they are doing their job as that's what they are there to do. If they reduce profits by 10% then reduce their pay by 10%

Then if the pay rise is subject to a board meeting you'd be happy because that's what is agreed at the start?
Is the pay for us smaller company directors somehow any different?

 

[Newchodge]

Whatever they signed up at the start. If they increase the profit then they are doing their job as that's what they are there to do. If they reduce profits by 10% then reduce their pay by 10%

always assuming that the increased, or decreased, profit is absolutely attributable to the CEO and not to anyone else. Personally I believe that, in a well-run organisation, all profit (and all loss) is the responsibility of every member of staff, and that pay increases on increased profitability should be distributed accordingly.