Network Rail chiefs' £5.8m bonus plans under fire

 
LONDON - DECEMBER 19: David Higgins of the ODA during a press conference of the ODA and LOGOC at Canary Wharf on December 19, 2007 in London, England. (Photo by Tom Shaw/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** David Higgins
Tom Shaw/Getty
Dick Murray1 July 2013

Plans to award the top five directors of Network Rail millions of pounds in bonuses over the next three years will be discussed in detail tomorrow.

The move came as a campaign was launched today to throw out the scheme and limit the bonuses in favour of a flat rate percentage to all staff, similar to a scheme used by the John Lewis partnership.

Forty-five public members of Network Rail — who act as shareholders — will attend a meeting in London to be given analysis of two NR bonus schemes, the existing one providing up to 60 per cent of salaries and a new one providing up to 100 per cent.

The members will then attend NR’s annual general meeting in Cardiff next month where they will be asked to vote on and support the deal. Documents seen by the Evening Standard, from the Office of Rail Regulation, say total bonus payments from 2012 to 2015 “could be up to £5.8 million.” This is below the £10 million figure mistakenly claimed by unions last week.

The double bonuses would be paid to chief executive David Higgins (basic salary £577,000), group finance director Patrick Butcher (£394,000), group strategy director Paul Plummer (£388,000), and infrastructure projects managing director Simon Kirby and network operations managing director Robin Gisby, both on £371,000.

They are based on targets including train timekeeping and cost efficiency. The TSSA transport union said the two bonus schemes plus salaries give the top five the potential to earn more than £11 million by 2015, and urged their rejection. An NR spokesman said: “Senior executives are rewarded only when performance exceeds tough targets.”

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