Celtic bows to fan pressure over living wage as director pay increases

The news comes as Celtic’s plc annual report revealed that the club’s hierarchy had seen overall salary costs rise by 20 per cent in the last year.

The Parkhead club has been lobbied from its own fans, led by the Celtic Trust, having previously said it would not sign up to the living wage scheme as it would mean “handing over decision making on salaries to another agency”.

However, the club has relented following a review of pay rates affecting an estimated 100 full-time employees and hundreds more non-permanent staff whose wages fell below the new living wage threshold.

Celtic staff had been paid £7.85 per hour but the rate, adjusted by the Living Wage Foundation, was raised by 40p last November.

Details of the agreement, which came into effect in July, have been revealed in the club’s financial papers.

It comes after the Celtic board faced criticism at last year’s AGM for failing to sign up to the living wage standard.

The Celtic Trust said “progress has been made – small though it is” and as such it said it will not be bringing a living wage resolution to the - as yet unscheduled - forthcoming annual general meeting.

But it said it had not abandoned its campaign and would continue to bring pressure to bear on the club to become fully accredited living wage employers.

In a message to supporters, the Celtic Trust said: “The lowest paid workers have now been paid more than they would have been without this campaign and we are delighted about that.

“We hope you will continue to support us, and that, unless national political developments overtake it, we will soon be able to say that our club is an Accredited Living Wage employer. We think Brother Walfrid would have wanted that, don’t you?”

Meanwhile, the club’s latest financial report, which showed player sales had driven an annual pre-tax profit of £500,000 compared to a loss of almost £4 million the year before, revealed that Celtic’s recent increase in director’s pay was largely due to a near-£240,000 ill health payment to long-serving former financial chief Eric Riley.

When it was announced in August 2015 that Mr Riley, who had held the position for more than 21 years, was stepping down, the club explained he had been suffering from Parkinson’s and prostate cancer since 2011.

He also took a bonus of £34,164, £11,774 in pension contributions and £5,983 benefits in kind.

Mr Riley continued to serve as a non-executive director until June 30 this year and the board said Mr Riley waived all rights to payment for acting as a director.

Meanwhile, his replacement as financial director Chris McKay was paid £371,634 in his first six months in post. On top of his £82,213 salary, he received £25,313 bonus, £10,125 pension contributions and £5,400 benefits in kind.

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell remained the top earner, being paid nearly £1 million, a rise of just £296 on the previous year.

The executive’s pay is made up of a £406,751 bonus and £17,380 “benefits in kind” on top of his £575,429 salary for last year.

The club plc’s annual report states Mr Lawwell continued to be “entitled to a maximum payment” under the company’s “bonus scheme of 60 per cent of basic salary”.

Celtic’s total wage bill, including player’s salaries, rose by 10.8 per cent to £36.9 million, the documents showed.