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NMC chief executive received pay rise of almost £20,000

Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) chief executive Jackie Smith received a pay rise of almost £20,000 in the past year, according to the regulator’s annual report.
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Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) chief executive Jackie Smith received a pay rise of almost £20,000 in the past year, according to the regulator’s annual report.

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NMC chief executive Jackie Smith. Picture: Barney Newman

The NMC’s report, published this week, reveals Ms Smith’s basic salary rose from £173,800 in 2015-16 to £192,850 in 2016-17.

Her overall remuneration package for 2016-17 was £256,027, compared with £220,284 in 2015-16.

The difference of £35,743 is the equivalent to the annual salary of a nurse at the top of Band 6, or a mid-ranking Band 7 nurse in England.

Out of alignment

The regulator said the move followed a review of executive pay for the first time in five years, which found NMC executive pay was ‘generally out of alignment’ with salaries for comparable roles in similar organisations.

In 2016, the NMC’s remuneration committee undertook a review of executive remuneration, as executive base pay had not been reviewed or subject to external benchmarking since 2011.

The review looked at pay data from the independent Total Remuneration Survey, civil service data and data from other healthcare regulators and non-departmental public bodies.

The NMC’s 2016-17 annual report states: ‘The review suggested that executive salaries in the NMC were generally out of alignment with median pay for comparable roles in the wider market, in some cases considerably so.’

Wider market

As a result of the review, the NMC introduced a new framework for executive pay, aligning executive base salaries in the NMC to the wider market.

‘In light of the executive pay review findings and new framework, the remuneration committee concluded that a significant realignment of the chief executive’s pay was needed,’ the report said.

In addition to her £192,850 basic salary, Ms Smith’s total remuneration for 2016-17 included:

  • £11,921 performance bonus. This was for 2015-16 but was paid in 2016-17. The bonus scheme has been suspended for 2016-17 for 12 months, the report said.
  • £10,392 reimbursement for 17 days annual leave not taken in 2015-16 due to the ‘volume of high priority business demanded of the chief executive’.
  • £40,864 increase in value of pension benefits.

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