Barts NHS Trust paying £47,000 a month for temporary finance director Ian Miller
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Version 0 of 1. An NHS trust has been paying nearly £47,000 a month – equivalent to an annual salary of more than half a million pounds – for a temporary official, according to a report. Figures obtained by The Daily Telegraph showed that a company called Maxentius was paid £78,000 plus VAT in February and March by the Barts NHS Trust for the services of Ian Miller as a finance director. Mr Miller, who is a director of Maxentius, is still employed by the Trust. The payments, which would add up to more than £560,000 over a year, are nearly three times the salary of Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, who makes £190,000 a year. However Mr Miller, 49, told the Telegraph that the figures did not reflect his actual earnings because of tax and pension deductions at higher rates than those of ordinary staff. Previously he worked for Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust for five months on rates of pay equivalent to a salary of more than £600,000, the paper added. A spokesman for Barts Health NHS Trust said: “The trust’s previous finance director left with immediate effect in February. “This, coupled with the significant financial challenges the Trust was facing, meant it was imperative for the Trust Board to appoint a highly experienced finance expert to lead its financial recovery programme. “Ian Miller was available immediately and had the significant experience needed to lead the finance department of the largest NHS Trust in the country. The process to recruit to a substantive post is expected to be under way shortly.” Barts has been described as “inadequate” by NHS regulators and is expecting to run up a budget deficit of £135m this year. Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, has written a letter to NHS trusts, which was leaked to the Telegraph, saying that managers on short-term contracts should not receive more than the pay given to permanent staff. He said that day rates of up to £3,000 were “excessive and indefensible”. |