NHS IT director general Granger's salary revealed

NHS IT chief Richard Granger has earned more than £1m in the four years since his appointment as director general of the £7bn Connecting for Health project in 2002.

Granger's salary, bonuses and expenses have finally been released to silicon.com after a protracted wrangle with the Department of Health (DoH) over a Freedom of Information (FoI) Act request.

I find it interesting what IT directors earn in other organisations... I'm not sure that some businesses have really understood the means by which a good quality IT director now controls the means of production.

-- Richard Granger, IT chief, NHS

The DoH had initially claimed there was a possibility Granger's rights under the Data Protection Act could be breached if the information was released.

The salary details show that Granger started in the senior civil service pay band of £250,000 to £255,000 when he joined on 7 October 2002 and has now progressed to the £280,000 to £285,000 pay band, earning a total of around £1.05m in his four years in charge of the Connecting for Health (CfH) programme.

Those are the combined figures for salary and bonuses as he has no contractual entitlement to performance-related pay. Granger's total claimed expense bill for the four years comes to £77,528.

The DoH said Granger took a significant drop in salary from his private sector role at Deloitte Consulting to become NHS IT boss. The FoI statement said: "He accepted a very substantial reduction in pay and allowances on joining the Department of Health."

In an interview with silicon.com last week Granger pointed to the considerably higher performance-related packages picked up in the private sector, such as the £2.2m salary of Tesco's IT chief, as reported on silicon.com today.

Talking about the entire NHS IT team, Granger said his people are not primarily motivated by money. "Every person could earn far more money in the private sector - every one of us. We are very committed to what we are doing," he said.

Granger also questioned the general level of remuneration for IT directors compared to other executives given the critical importance of technology to businesses today.

He said: "I find it interesting what IT directors earn in other organisations not just relative to the size of budget they control but also relative to their other directors, and I'm not sure that some businesses have really understood the means by which a good quality IT director now controls the means of production."

silicon.com's own annual skills survey of 1,198 people found that 22 per cent of CIOs earn more than £110,000 per year, with a quarter in the £70,001 to £110,000 range.