Croner Reward Charity Rewards Survey 2006

Pay and benefits consultancy, Croner Reward has released results of its latest annual Charity Rewards survey. The survey is based on 8,097 job records provided by 348 charities representing over 44,094 charity workers in the UK.

The survey has revealed that charity pay is up to 20% below other sectors with up to 26% less in London.

Senior scientists working in the charity sector receive the highest pay, however those in middle-ranking finance/computing and legal roles have the highest paying functions.

Vivienne Copeland, Client Services Director at Croner Reward, says: ìPay and reward in the charity sector will always be different from other sectors. The growing level of professionalism and commercial realisation means that charities are more willing to pay ëcommercialí rates for hard-to-recruit and important roles. This goes hand in hand with more rigorous assessments of candidates for these roles. At the same time, however, charities are still inclined to rely quite heavily on ëMaking a Differenceí being a key motivator to compensate for lower than average pay levels for senior posts.î

The key findings of the research are:

Comparison with other sectors

- Pay in the charity sector is well below that of other sectors. For example pay for Chief Executives in charities averages 65,000, 20% below the all sector median of 81,160.

- The shortfall for Directors has reduced slightly this year, but for most other grades of staff the position in relation to the national average has worsened slightly.

- London-based charities are paying well below the London all-sector at Director and Senior Executive level by around 25%.

Comparison between functions

- Directors and Senior Managers in Science/Research/Engineering are the highest paid of all functions

- Welfare Services Directors are the second highest paid

- Below Head of Function jobs in Finance/Computing/Legal are generally the highest paid

- Fundraisers are appearing in mid-table in the pay league along with Administration

- Welfare Services is no longer the lowest paying function and is now ahead of Science at Rank 4 and Grantmaking at Rank 5

- This is also illustrated by the movement in hourly pay for care workers. A senior care workerís pay has risen by 6.4% year-on-year, from 6.88 per hour to 7.32 per hour. Similarly, pay for an unqualified care worker has risen from 5.42 per hour to 5.89 per hour ( 8.7%).

Pay increases and forecasts

- Charities participating in the survey have given average across-the-board settlements of 3% in the last 12 months. This is slightly lower than the average settlements in the commercial sector of 3.1% over the same period

- The same organisations are also forecasting increases of 3% in the coming year, and the same in the commercial sector.

Benefits
Company cars

- Following several years of stability in company car provision in the charity sector, this yearís survey shows a small drop in the percentage of those receiving a company car below Director level

- The company car is provided to ever fewer in the commercial sector, with this year seeing a further reduction in the provision of this benefit

- The typical level of provision in the charity sector is around a fifth of that seen in the commercial sector.

Performance-related pay

- 14% of charities participating in the survey operate a performance-related pay scheme

- 83% of schemes are linked to appraisal with around 40% linked to productivity

- The majority of schemes (71%) apply to all staff and the average award is 3.6% of salary.

Pensions

- 92.7% of charities operate a pension scheme. 46% operate a group personal pension scheme, whilst 27% operate a final salary scheme (29% last year). The remaining 28% operate a money purchase scheme.

- Most charities contribute 5-10% of salary into the scheme, but a significant number (14%) contribute 15% of salary or more

- 36% of charities will make a contribution to a personal pension scheme, typically 11.7% of salary

- 70% offer life assurance, typically at four times salary, and around 20% offer disability insurance.

Other benefits

- 25% of charities offer private health insurance to management grades and above, with 18% offering it to other staff

- In almost three-quarters of the cases, the insurance covers the employee only, and is nearly always free.

- 42% of charities offer maternity pay above the statutory minimum

- 43% of charities pay sick pay from the first day of employment and 29% pay it after three months service

- The level of labour turnover amongst charities is around 16%

- 15% of participating charities pay an allowance for working at home. The average payment has dropped significantly this year to 536 (980 last year).

For more information, or to order a copy of the Charity Rewards report please call 01785-813566, email enquiries@croner-reward.co.uk or visit