Save the Children confirmed that 20 per cent of the pay of its nine top executives was linked to performance. It said that in 2012 £162,000 was paid out, including £22,560 to the charity's chief executive Justin Forsyth, a former adviser to both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. In the previous year the charity paid out £120,000 to its top management, when Mr Forsyth declined to accept a bonus. Save the Children said that this was because "he was relatively new as CEO." In 2012 he was paid £163,000 as chief executive, including his bonus. A spokesman for Save the Children said that performance-related pay helped the charity to get "the very best" from its staff and "ultimately to save the lives of more of the world's poorest children." It said that executive pay was marked against 20 performance indicators, including specific targets for saving lives, and its performance and remuneration committee reviewed them twice a year. A spokesman said that performance-related pay had risen because Mr Forsyth declined his bonus in 2010 and because the organisation hits many more of its targets. He said: "In 2012 we achieved many of our organisational objectives - reaching more children than ever before, delivering life-saving aid to more than three million children in more than 50 emergencies, and beating our challenging fundraising targets by more than 10 million pounds. As a result, overall performance-related pay to executive directors increased.