Another Fat cat charity boss !

I would help anyone in need but I never give to charities. I think it's a disgrace that the CEOs are paid ridiculously high salaries. The whole thing is out of control. By the way it's often pensioners who give to charities as they feel obliged to when asked. I have a small pension and I've no intention of sharing it with any fat cat.

Does anyone deserve a salary of £1.7 million, regardless of who they are ?
I have looked for lists of salaries for charity CEOs and then revised who I donate to. In my younger days charities were manned by volunteers and did not take vast salaries from the donations.
We had a run in with the National Trust when my cousin left a bequest in his will. The terms of the will stated they would get one third of the remaining estate after family bequests had been honoured. They tried to get one third of the estate before family bequests, how greedy is that even sending solicitor's letter because my sister had to pay for disposal of household articles. They thought that she should fly from abroad and wind up the estate at her own cost, for a relative she saw once every couple of years.
I did not receive a penny nor did I expect to but I did expect a little decorum from a charity that received multi thousands as a gift.

Guide Dogs is another charity which has hundreds of MILLIONS squirrelled away/invested in overseas companies earning high interest rates.
How do we know if these investments are in ethical companies or indeed ones of which we would approve? We don't, and there's the rub.

Regarding charities, we ought to do a little research sometimes before donating. A about a month ago there was a regular advert on tv showing a midwife delivering babies in a rural area of Liberia. I think her ‘name’ was Sarah or similar & in the ad she was surrounded by children & babies all named after her. So sweet.
I was sceptical wondering why their own government couldn’t provide a much needed clinic & midwives.
So I googled ‘corruption in Liberia’.
Jeez.
I didn’t donate.

Relieved that’s it’s not just me who is looking carefully at where I donate my very hard earned money . I will not stop giving to cancer research as I made a pledge a few years ago that my conscience will not allow me to break . I do not give to any other large charities preferring to support those smaller ones ( like the local hospice) close to my heart and home . I find it obscene that the big charities are sitting on £ millions.... £ billions even and paying their top executives ridiculously high wages and bonuses .
As for Motability I’m glad there is to be a long overdue enquiry .

Are their wages higher than those paid in different sectors for the same type of position?
I'm not be facetious, just wondering?

Some are and some aren’t (sorry that doesn’t answer the question) MissA but many of them pay big bonuses on top . My concern is how many people paying say £5 per month ( thinking that it’s goubg directly to help the particular cause) does it take just to pay just one of these exhorbitant wages/bonuses ? And there are often quite a few executives on the boards . That’s before the “charity” sees a single penny .

In my younger days charities were manned by volunteers and did not take vast salaries from the donations.
The thing is that they still rely on the goodwill of volunteers harrigran - and all the while the fat cats at the top are earning huge salaries, bonuses and travelling first class.

Apparently they "have to pay these salaries to attract the right people". Unfortunately, the right people often prove to be the wrong people.

Outrageous- this is public money - we have to do something about these ridiculous salaries - the gap between rich and poor gets bigger daily and there will be riots eventually.

What does the Charity Commission actually do. Is it a toothless organisation- if so what's its point?

I don’t understand the criticism of charities who have money invested. Surely that’s sensible, to invest rather than spend every donated penny.
I agree with those who question whether anyone ‘earns’ huge salaries. However, if your organisation wants an individual who has a proven track record as CEO, that person will expect to earn a competitive salary no matter who their employer is.

This is from the National Council for Voluntary Organisation’s website, about the Charity Commission:
“The Commission investigates accusations of wrongdoing. The vast majority of errors are simple mistakes, and help and advice from the Commission to trustees is enough to rectify things. However, in some rare cases, a statutory inquiry is necessary to find out what has gone wrong and how it can be fixed.
If a serious problem is uncovered, the Commission has powers to:
restrict transactions a charity may enter into
appoint additional trustees
‘freeze’ a charity’s bank account
suspend or remove a trustee
appoint an interim manager
make a referral for investigation to the police and other law enforcement agencies.”

The Charity Commission has no powers of its own to prosecute any charity which is perceived to have done something illegal. It can only refer matters to the police.
It has a much wider role of advising charities about how they should conduct themselves. So it’s rather unfair to describe it as toothless.

Once again, Motability, which was the subject of the OP, is not a charity.
It’s an organisation which has charitable status for tax purposes. There’s a big difference.

So, my neighbour who uses her husbands motorbility car to go on holiday sometimes leaving it parked at Gatwick for a couple of weeks while he is at home, is acting illegally?

Having charitable status doesn’t equate to a charity.
All heads of big business are very well paid, you can either agree with this or not.
A really good CEO makes a huge difference to a business, so they are paid accordingly.

Motability IS most definitely a charity . Funded wholly by the tax payers ! Not sure why anyone thinks otherwise ?

“The organisational structure of the scheme can be broken into two parts: Motability, which is a registered charity, and Motability Operations (formerly Motability Finance Ltd), a public limited company owned by five clearing banks which operates the car and powered wheelchair leasing scheme on behalf of Motability.

www.motability.co.uk/contact-and-support/motability-charity/

And again .... the clue is in the word charity!

Gilly Motability may call itself a charity, but it does not receive donations from the public, and it doesn’t have volunteer staff.
That is what most people understand by a charity.
From the Motability website

“How the Motability Scheme is funded
It is a common misconception that the Motability Scheme costs the Government (and therefore the public) money. That is not the case. The Motability Scheme is funded by disabled people who choose to spend their higher rate mobility allowance to pay the cost of their lease.”
www.motability.org.uk/Factsheet_3_-_How_the_Motability_Scheme_is_funded.pdf
I agree with you that very few people, if any, deserve a salary of £1.7million.
But I think it’s wrong of the Daily Mail to describe the CEO of Motability Operations as a ‘Charity Boss’ because that casts a slur by association on genuine Charity CEO’s who work for far less.

Whether he’s the boss of a charity, or the boss of a business, I don’t think he, or anyone else, is worth that kind of money, because quite frankly, no one on this earth can actually earn nearly four million pounds in a year.

Thanks janeainsworth for the links that set out the reality of Motability. It's totally wrong of the Daily Mail to describe the CEO as a 'Charity Boss'. It isn't surprising though is it, to see the DM distorting facts to create OUTRAGE.

I had no idea it was a charity.
I was stupid enough to think it was some sort of service provided by the government.
Why isn’t it? Sounds like the tax payers could save a bit of money.

RTT it isn’t a charity, it’s funded by disabled people who use their high rate mobility payments to rent their vehicle. It’s purpose is to help those who qualify to be able to be
Mobile. Public transport rarely offers this to the extent needed

GabriellaG I was once a contractor for Guide Dogs. At the time they had at least 30 personnel working in Human Resources for a company that didn’t actually have that many employees. H.R. had plenty of “motivational” hairbrained projects which made most people want to bang their heads repeatedly against a wall. I don’t think the executive pay was excessive at all at the time though.

as far as i am concerned where money and CEO`s are they will always cream off the money ,i have never ever read or heard about a CEO having principles and earning their money it is a "take as much as possible "attitude

What we can't lose sight of in this charity bashing fest, is the good work some of them do.
Guide Dogs for the Blind - I have had close contact with many people who work or volunteer for that organisation. their trainers are second to none. Dogs who get through the arduous selection and training process do work hard with their new owners but, they have a good life in comparison with many other dogs.

I don’t think this is a “charity bashing fest” at all Iam . Personally I am just questioning how appropriate it is for the boss ( and many others too) of registered charities to cream off £ millions in wages, pensions and bonuses before the “charity” sees a single penny . It’s up to everyone else to make up their own minds.