Press release

Appointment of Chair of Review Body on Senior Salaries (SSRB)

The Prime Minister has appointed Dr Martin Read as Chair of the Review Body on Senior Salaries (SSRB) effective from 1 January 2015.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

The Prime Minister has appointed Dr Martin Read as Chair of the Review Body on Senior Salaries (SSRB) The appointment will be for an initial term of 3 years, and will be effective from 1 January 2015.

The current acting Chair of the SSRB, Margaret Edwards, will lead the completion of the review cycle which culminates in SSRB’s 37th annual report due in February 2015 and will thereafter continue as a member of the Body.

Martin Read CBE, MA, DPhil, FIET

Martin Read is Chairman of Laird plc, of the 2 government companies set up in 2014 to manage contracts and payments under the electricity market reform programme(the Low Carbon Contracts Company and the Electricity Settlements Company) and of the Remuneration Consultants Group. He is a non-executive director of Lloyd’s of London and the UK Government Efficiency and Reform Board.

Martin was chief executive of international IT services company Logica from 1993 to 2007 and has served as a non-executive director on the boards of Invensys, Aegis Group, British Airways, Siemens Holdings, Boots and ASDA, (chairing the Remuneration Committees at Invensys, British Airways and Boots). He has been a senior adviser to private equity firms Candover and Actis and to Indian technology company HCL. He led UK government reviews on back office operations and IT across the public sector (2008/9) and management information (2012).

Notes to editors

The appointment is for an initial term of approximately 3 years and will be effective from 1 January 2015.

The Chairman of the Review Body attracts a fee of £350 per day and is expected to commit between 15 and 30 days per year to the role.

The appointment process for this role was in full accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ Code of Practice

Further information

The SSRB provides independent advice to the Prime Minister, senior Ministers, heads of other UK legislatures and the London Mayor (as appropriate) on the remuneration arrangements for many of the nation’s top public servants. The SSRB’s remit covers the Senior Civil Service, the Judiciary, Senior Military leaders, and Very Senior Managers in the NHS. Since 2013, the SSRB’s remit expanded to cover the remuneration of Police and Crime Commissioners. This autumn SSRB has begun advising on the pay of senior police officers, as recommended by the Winsor Review.

In August 2014, current member of the SSRB, Margaret Edwards, took up the role of acting Chair of the Body with the approval of the Office of the Commission for Public Appointments (OCPA) and the Minister for Cabinet Office. An acting Chair was required to begin the SSRB’s work on senior pay for the 2015 recommendations while the new substantive Chair was being recruited. It has been agreed between the current acting Chair, the new incoming Chair and the Director of the Office of Manpower Economics that the acting Chair, Margaret Edwards, would continue to lead the SSRB’s current review cycle culminating in the SSRB’s 37th annual report due in February 2015 and will thereafter continue as a member of the body.

Published 18 December 2014