Child sex abuse inquiry chairwoman to be paid £185,000

BBC News
September 15, 2016

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37375853

Prof Jay had declined the offer of a car and driver, the inquiry said

The new chairwoman of the inquiry into child sexual abuse in England and Wales, Prof Alexis Jay, is to be paid a salary of £185,000.

The academic and former social worker will also receive an annual accommodation allowance of £35,000.

She is the fourth person to head the inquiry. Her predecessor, Dame Lowell Goddard, who resigned last month, had criticised the scope and scale of the inquiry and said it should be reviewed.

Dame Lowell was being paid £355,000.

She received nearly £30,000 in accommodation expenses, and also claimed £3,324 in expenses last year and more than £37,000 in expenses relating to her relocation to the UK from New Zealand.

Prof Jay was already among the panel of advisers to the probe into child sex abuse claims.

She previously led the independent inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham which found that at least 1,400 children were subjected to sexual exploitation in the town between 1997 and 2013.

Set up in July 2014, the national inquiry into child sexual abuse is investigating allegations made against local authorities, religious organisations, the armed forces and public and private institutions in England and Wales, as well as people in the public eye.

The figures for salaries, allowances and expenses were contained in the inquiry's accounts, which suggest that £3.2m of the £17.9m budget was not spent in the 2015-2016 financial year.

Dame Lowell recently told MPs the inquiry's budget was too low.

• Born in Edinburgh and educated at the Moray House School of Education, now part of the University of Edinburgh
• Led the Rotherham abuse inquiry, which concluded in August 2014 that 1,400 children in the South Yorkshire town had been subjected to sexual abuse
• Former chief social worker to the Scottish government and spent more than 30 years working in local councils in deprived areas of Edinburgh and Glasgow
• Visiting professor at Strathclyde University, where she chairs the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland
• In 2015 received an honorary doctorate from the same university
• Awarded an OBE in the 2012 Birthday Honours List for services to children and families