NR chief Iain Coucher takes £641,000 bonus
Categories: News
Network Rail Chief Executive Iain Coucher has been awarded a bonus of £641,000 for 2009/10 - showing that NR has ignored pressure from government and regulator alike for restraint when deciding bonuses.
The information comes in the company’s annual report, which was slipped on to its website with no fanfare on June 24. It reveals that, if Coucher accepts his full bonus (he gave part of it up last year), he will have been paid £1.2 million for 2009/10. In total, the six directors at NR share a bonus pot of £2.2m.
The bonuses are likely to infuriate rail unions and will lead to more questions about the effectiveness of the Office of Rail Regulation. They are also likely to increase pressure on ministers to reform Network Rail, perhaps even bringing it under direct government control.
However, NR’s remuneration committee reduced the overall bonus pot by 20% once it had made its overall consideration. It means that directors’ bonuses were reduced by 43% of the maximum they could have been. Furthermore, the committee warns: “In the absence of clear further improvements to the safety record nest year there will be further, and potentially more severe, downward discretion applied to future awards.”
