Anger over Rock boss's £500,000 'to do nothing'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Unions described the decision by state-owned Northern Rock to hand chief executive Gary Hoffman £500,000 in pay, pension and other benefits for doing nothing for six months as a "punch in the stomach" yesterday.
Mr Hoffman is planning to take over as chief executive of the new banking group NBNK, set up by Lord Levene and a group of City and political grandees to become a "new force in banking".
But the huge amount of tax payers' cash Mr Hoffman will pocket for sitting at home will inevitably lead to accusation of "business as usual in banking".
That was the view of the Unite union, which said yesterday: "Unite is disgusted that Northern Rock has awarded Gary Hoffman a golden goodbye of £500,000. The award of half-a-million pounds for Mr Hoffman to put his feet up represents a punch in the stomach for the 2,500 Northern Rock employees who have been sacked during the last two years."
Mr Hoffman's place will be taken by Ron Sandler, who will resume the role of executive chairman of Northern Rock, despite this violating best corporate governance practice, which holds that a chairman should be a non-executive.
Despite NBNK ruling itself out of bidding for Northern Rock in taking Mr Hoffman on, Mr Sandler said his gardening leave was necessary to protect Rock's interest.
Mr Hoffman is set to earn a similar salary at NBNK but the company would not comment on what sort of incentives would be loaded on to the package. NBNK wants to buy the 600-plus branches that Lloyds is required to sell by the EU.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments