Goddard Inquiry: New Zealand judge becomes Britain’s highest paid civil servant with £5m pay package

UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Robert Mendick, chief reporter
29 JULY 2016

Dame Lowell Goddard, the New Zealand judge heading the Government’s child sex abuse inquiry, could receive more than £5 million in pay and perks amid fears hearings will drag on for a decade, The Telegraph can disclose.

Dame Justice Goddard’s remuneration package, which includes numerous free flights home and a £110,000 a year rental allowance, has catapulted her to the top of the public servants’ paylist.

Campaigners described the flight and accommodation allowances as “highly questionable”.

The judge earns a basic salary of £360,000 a year. But that is topped up with the rental allowance, an additional £12,000 a year for utilities bills and a car and driver for official business – all paid for by the Home Office.

The four free return business class flights to New Zealand every year for her and her husband is a further perk reckoned to be worth £40,000 annually. Business class return flights to new Zealand typically cost £5,000.

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