Accounts published by government roads quango National Highways this week reveal that its chief executive, Nick Harris, got paid £426,304 in 2024-25, including performance bonuses.
By comparison, prime minister Keir Starmer – who by most reckonings has a more important and more difficult job – has an annual salary of £172,153.
What’s more, Nick Harris was given an 8% bump in earnings last year while the troops got just 5%. The median salary at National Highways was £39,477 last year, up from £37,697 in 2023-24.
The annual report also reveals that National Highways’ 6,800 staff each took an average of 11.7 days off sick last year – totalling more than 79,500 days, which, with roughly 260 working days in a year, equates to more than 300 years of working hours lost to sick leave in the agency last year alone.
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