Judge Leading Sex Abuse Inquiry Criticised over ?500,000-a-year Pay Deal
By Martin Bentham
The judge leading the Government’s inquiry into historical child sex abuse will receive a pay package worth up to ?500,000 a year. New Zealander Justice Lowell Goddard, who has vowed to name politicians and other high-profile figures involved in paedophile activity, will be paid an annual salary of ?360,000. That means she is due to be paid ?1.8?million by the end of the five-year inquiry. The total could rise if the inquiry overruns. Justice Goddard will also be given a living allowance of ?110,000 a year, ?12,000 a year to cover utility bills, and other entitlements including four return flights a year to New Zealand for her and her husband. A further two economy-class return flights a year will be provided by taxpayers for other family members. Her package also includes the use of a chauffeur-driven car for official business. The size of the judge’s pay deal will prompt renewed concern about the scale and cost of the inquiry. It is budgeted to cost taxpayers ?17.9?million in its first year alone and is certain to cost tens of millions of pounds before it is completed. The Home Office agreed the deal with Justice Goddard after the resignation of the two women previously appointed to lead out the child abuse inquiry. Dame Fiona Woolf and Baroness Butler-Sloss both stepped down. It today defended its decision to approve the judge’s pay package. One source close to the negotiations said: “Lowell Goddard is highly experienced in this area. She had led previous inquiries into police activities in child abuse cases and she was chair of the Independent Police Complaints Authority. “Few judges in the world are qualified to lead this inquiry. “She has given up a lot to come to the UK. She has come to the other side of the world and has obviously made public and professional sacrifices in order to take up this role. “She was forced to retire early from her role as a High Court Judge in New Zealand and also leave behind her family including her grandchildren. “Her salary and benefits reflect a comparable level of recompense for what she received in her High Court role.” Jonathan Isaby, the chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, which campaigns against the waste of public money, said Home Secretary Theresa May was right to appoint “the best people”, but added: “The structure of the compensation package is very odd indeed. “Most of us have to pay our living expenses and flights to see relatives out of our normal salary.” Justice Goddard’s pay compares with the ?240,000 salary received by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, and the ?214,000 a year paid to the President of the Supreme Court, Lord Neuberger. The inquiry into historical child sex abuse was announced by the Home Secretary following a succession of cases involving celebrities. There were also claims of an establishment cover-up over allegations of paedophile activity by politicians and other high-profile figures. Opening the inquiry last week, Justice Goddard said the ?17.9?million bill for the inquiry’s first year was a “large sum”, but insisted that its work was essential and could not be “calculated in purely monetary terms”.
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