New crackdown on spiralling charity executive pay It will most likely recommend that independent trustees chair remuneration committees, which set pay scales, and tbat they are given independent advice about setting executive pay levels. A working group will include chairmen of trustees from a range of charities, including the broadcaster, Martyn Lewis, who has been the council's chairman since 2010. Sir Stuart Etherington, the council's chief executive, said that he was also against charities giving performance pay bonuses to staff after The Telegraph disclosed that four of the country's top 14 aid charities pay bonuses to executives. He said: "The public are right to ask that their donations are spent effectively and efficiently. Setting senior staff salaries is a complex task for trustees, who have to balance many factors to determine the right pay level in their organisation. I believe definitive guidance would be a useful resource for trustees and would help give the public confidence that salaries have been properly considered. I'm pleased the Commission are responding positively to our proposal to work together on this. Sam Younger, the Charity Commission's chief executive, said that it would be "happy to be involved" in developing the guidance. He said: "We welcome this initiative from NCVO to work on an advisory code for charity trustees when setting senior staff salaries. And we would be happy to be involved in a process that supports trustees to fulfil their duties when making decisions. The initiative was welcomed by MPs. Priti Patel, the Conservative MP who worked with The Daily Telegraph on the research, said: "The Telegraph should be commended for leading this camaign for greater openess and transparency in Britain's biggest charities. The Charity Commission should be commended for taking this positive step by looking at the wholly inappropriate levels of executive pay across the charitable sector. Letter: the NCVO proposes new guidelines for chief executive pay Public confidence must be restored following these revelations and greater transparency, openness and accountability must be a key priority when setting the pay levels of the chief executives of Britain's charities. Charlie Elphicke MP, who sits on the Public Administration Select Committee which oversees charities, praised The Daily Telegraph for drawing attention to the sums. He said: "This is a great victory for the Telegraph's campaign and it is very welcome that the CC have listened and are taking action. What we need to see is the charities respond and move away from the grasping culture and rediscover their sense of vocation. Writing for telegraph.co.uk/politics, Mr Elphicke called on charities to "renew their sense of mission, spending less time at conferences and more time valuing their volunteers." He said: "Charity bosses need to remind themselves that charity is a vocation, not an opportunity for personal enrichment. Jeremy Lefroy, a Tory MP who earlier this year pressed ministers to remove tax breaks from charities that employ people on more than £100,000 a year, said this was an opportunity for charities "to make it clear that they do not simply use the usual expression "the market rate" to justify very high salaries for executives. "If charities currently paying salaries well in excess of £100,000 pa wish to "pay the market rate," then let them test the market properly by advertising the posts for much less than the current salaries. I think that most would be pleasantly surprised at the quality of the candidates who put themselves forward. Most charities do excellent work. But they depend on the generosity of the public and very favourable tax treatment from the state. Senior executives working for them can show that they appreciate this by accepting fairly modest remuneration which would still be far greater than almost all of those donating to the charity, whether as a donor or taxpayer, could ever hope to aspire to. The perks for charities are considerable with of the income and gains received by charities exempt from Income Tax and Corporation Tax. Charities can also claim back tax through the Gift Aid scheme if the donor giving them funds is a UK tax payer. Charity pay: How the Telegraph led the way 7 August: 30 charity chiefs are paid more than £100,000, Christopher Hope reveals. They include the leaders of the British Red Cross and Christian Aid. Justine Greening, the Development Secretary, says charities must grasp transparency. 8 August: Sir Stephen Bubb, chief executive of the group for charity chief executives ACEVO, says the revelations are a campaign by right-wingers who "hate" charities, especially those who help the poor in the Third World. 8 August: Christopher Hope reveals Save the Children executives shared a bonus pot worth £160,000. Justin Forsyth, a former advisor to Gordon Brown, pocketed and extra £22,560. 9 August: We reveal that Sir Stephen Bubb, defender of executive pay, used funds from his charity-funded group to throw a 60th birthday party with a large pink cake. 12 August: Nine charities are able to pay their chief executives more than £300,000, leading to questions as to whether they should be charities at all, it is revealed. Ministers say they will not take action against organisations granted charitable status that pay staff more than £100,000 a year.