Monday 4 November 2019

OUTRAGE AT FAT CAT 20 PER CENT RISE


Workington Man and `envious` Boris? 
'Workington man'
The Cumbria town of  Workington that has hit the national headlines by giving its name to  a crucial swing voter  has been making news for another reason.

The housing press  reveals that  the boss of the town`s  housing association has won a  mouth-watering salary  of nearly a quarter of a million pounds.

The name Workington Man is claimed  to be the key to success of the Tories at the polls next month- the name came from a think tank called Onward which identified him as an older white male from the north of England.

But  what exactly Workington Man  made of that gigantic salary increase-   up more than 20 per cent on the year and fifty per cent more than Boris`s pay- is not known.We can only guess.  

The massive rise to £234,563  will take a lot of explaining say critics.

The rise has been won by Ms Carol Matthews chief executive of  the giant Riverside Housing Association which led a controversial takeover of the much smaller Workington-based Impact Housing Association almost exactly a year ago.   

Takeover time: Ms Matthews(left) and former Impact chairman, Mark Costello

That takeover came about  after the social housing regulator downgraded Impact as not fit for purpose because of its failings in governance and viability.

Impact was accused of secrecy, spin, lack of transparency and failure to properly consult tenants.A former Impact chairman Mr Adrian Waite, a leading  local government management consultant made the criticisms in  letter to the then community secretary Mr Sajid Javid.  

One year on and critics say that Ms Matthews` mouth-watering salary has also not been properly explained. Liverpool-based Riverside which has 56,000  homes nationwide did make a statement about the salary to  the social housing magazine Inside Housing which has just completed a survey of 156 housing association`s chief executives.

The survey revealed that Ms Matthews`  near quarter million pay rise was the third highest of the 156 and the average pay rise of the 156 was £174,896.                                                                                                  
The Riverside statement said:“Ms Matthews’ salary was increased in January 2019 as a result of changes to the organisation’s senior leadership team and to bring it closer in line with market rates for comparable roles in the sector.

“Carol is a highly respected leader, responsible for a large, complex national housing and care business with an annual turnover of £354 million.

“She personally chose to be paid less than her predecessor when she joined Riverside as chief executive in February 2012 and since then her salary has remained, and still remains, one of the lowest in the sector compared to the leaders of similar sized housing providers.”

 This is not the first time that Riverside has been criticised for the fat cat salaries paid to its bosses says Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation,  which for many years has campaigned to hold Riverside to account. The Federation publishes this blog.

A spokesman for the Federation said today: “Not many years ago we  and others drew attention to these outrageous Riverside salaries. So it is  not surprising that Riverside now praises Ms Matthews for chosing to work for a reduced salary.

 “ Her predecessors were not so restrained and  because of that they came in for a lot of criticism.

“Riverside may now think that  Ms Matthews`salary -a 20 per cent pay rise to nearly a quarter of million pounds a year - is low. 

"Workington Man would say that`s crazy!

"Boris must be very envious!”

Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation publishes this blog. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 5222

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