Ofcom is looking for a new chairman to lead public broadcaster Channel 4 and is offering a salary equivalent to £578,000 per year, significantly more than the Prime Minister’s salary.
Subject to approval by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the successful applicant will replace the current Chairman Sir Ian Cheshire, whose term of office ends on 10 April 2025, and earn a staggering £1,583 per day.
The employee would also work just five days per month, according to the Government website.
The salary would amount to £95,000 across the year, equivalent to a full-time salary of £577,916, significantly more than Sir Keir Starmer’s £172,153 salary.
With the new appointee serving a three or four-year term, they would earn a salary equivalent to between £1.74million and £2.3m during their term in post.
Responding to the job advert, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng, said: “This is an unbelievable waste of taxpayers’ money for a channel that is of niche interest to the public.”
Kwarteng told GB News: “This makes no sense, I don’t understand how they can justify this.”
The Government said it’s looking for a top candidate with “a track record of promoting diversity and inclusion”, with the role requiring the applicant to set the channel’s “values and standards”.
Also commenting on the role, Reform UK Chief Whip, Lee Anderson MP, said: “The level of waste and reckless spending under this Labour government is out of control.
“While hardworking people earn around £28,000 a year in Ashfield, Channel 4 – a taxpayer-funded broadcaster – is dishing out £95,000 for its chair to work just five days a month.”
Anderson fumed: “Reform UK will cut the waste, stop the gravy train, and deliver real value for the British taxpayer. It’s time we put working people first.”
Responding to the findings, Head of Research at the Taxpayers Alliance Darwin Friend, said: “It’s vital to remember that while Channel 4 is fully self-funding, it is taxpayer-owned, which means how it spends its cash needs to be open to scrutiny.”
Friend explained: “According to calculations by us at the Taxpayers ‘Alliance, billions could be raised from its sale.
“Under that scenario, these massive pay packets would not be of public concern, which is something the broadcasters’ bosses may want to think about.”
Labour MP, Graham Stringer, said: “Have Channel 4 not noticed that there is an economic crisis, and vital public services are being cut.”
Stringer fumed: “This is insensitive and unacceptable; some of this money could be better used elsewhere.”