One of thehighest-paid IT experts in governmenthas taken a pay cut despite a promotion.
Steve Lamey has taken a salary drop of at least £10,000 a year
since he was promoted from CIO at HM Revenue and Customs to a more
senior position. And he no longer claims about £9,000 in taxable
benefits which he did when he was CIO.
Steve Lamey was appointed as CIO at HM Revenue and Customs in
2004, responsible for IT in both the former Inland Revenue and
Customs and Excise departments. In his first full year as CIO in
2005/6 Lamey earned about £247,500 excluding benefits in kind of
about £9,100.
He was promoted in 2007 to HMRC's chief operating officer, and
promoted again in 2008 to director general, benefits and credits.
He has also become a HMRC commissioner who exercises statutory
functions on behalf of the Crown. But his salary has dropped to
about £237,500 in 2008/9. And he no longer claims any benefits in
kind.
His earnings still remain in the top tier for a senior business
executive with an IT background, whether in the private or public
sector.
HMRC's permanent secretary for tax, Dave Hartnett, earned
£160,000 to £165,000 in 2008/9. Deepak Singh, who took over from
Lamey as HMRC's CIO, earned a similar salary to Harnett's.
Top CIO salaries in London in the private sector are
about £170,000, according to online recruitment specialist The
IT Job Board. In New York, where median CIO salaries are higher
than in other parts of the US, median CIO salaries range between
$150,000 (£92,000) and $250,000 (£153,000), according to
Payscale.
Lamey is well regarded in HMRC and outside. He has
responsibilities for
Pacesetter,
a strategy to increase HMRC's business productivity, change ways of
working and reduce backlogs of work. It involves Fujitsu and
consultants PA Consulting and McKinsey.
Lamey is also a leading campaigner to make enterprise IT systems
more
accessible
to the disabled.
But he is by no means the highest paid IT expert in the public
sector.
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