Head of Cameron's legacy project still paid £165,000

Salary review pledge not met despite charity's funding cuts

- DAVID COHEN

The chief executive of David Cameron’s legacy project for young people has continued to be paid his £165,000 salary, despite committing to review his pay before the charity had more than 60 per cent of its funding cut.

Mark Gifford was appointed head of the National Citizen Service (NCS) Trust in early 2020 when almost £160m of taxpayers’ money was lavished on the NCS by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

But a government review has since shrunk their budget to less than £60m a year following an investigation by The Independent that showed the charity was failing to provide value for money. Mr Gifford had admitted that cuts were needed to make NCS pay for senior executives “better aligned to the third sector” and to “take into account market forces”.

His comments formed part of an investigation by The Independent that revealed that the senior NCS team were being handed six-figure salaries, despite dwindling youth participation in its activities and failing to meet government targets.

But Mr Gifford’s salary – which is set by the NCS Trust Remuneration Committee and on which a government representative sits with a veto – has remained at £150,000, or £165,000 including benefits. Other members of the senior leadership also do not appear to have had their salaries cut.