Grayling under fire over soaring pay at HS2

UK Transport Secretary Chris Grayling found himself under the spotlight on Wednesday when it emerged he ignored warnings about spiralling executive pay at the company responsible for the controversial £55bn High Speed 2 rail project.

Almost a quarter of staff of the 1,346 employed by HS2 were on salaries of £100,000 or more last year. The company also spent more than £600m on consultants, double the amount in 2015/16.

This number is an increase from the 155 who were paid six figures in 2015/16, the Times reported, citing documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws

Some 112 people are receiving more than £150,000 annually and 15 have pay packets topping £251,000.

Chief Treasury Secretary Liz Truss wrote to Grayling earlier in the year expressing concern that the salaries were high.

HS2 Ltd has special permission to agree 65 salaries above this level without Treasury approval. This means the chief secretary would have agreed to at least 47 salaries above the limit, the newspaper reported.

Truss and her predecessors signed off on a number of high salaries for HS2. However, this only came on the explicit recommendation and approval of Mr Grayling as well as the permanent secretary of the Department for Transport, now Bernadette Kelly, it added.

The released figures show that 112 staff receive more than £150,000 a year, with 15 topping £251,000 a year.

Last year it emerged that the company had made £1.7m of unauthorised redundancy payments when it moved its headquarters from London to Birmingham.

A spokesman for HS2 Ltd said: “In a highly technical project of the scale and complexity of HS2 it is necessary to employ the right level of expertise and knowledge to deliver the programme successfully.

“HS2 Ltd is committed to controlling costs and take our responsibility to taxpayers’ money very seriously, and the programme remains on track and within our funding envelope.”