​Wheatley Group boss takes voluntary 60% pay cut

The chief executive of Scotland’s biggest housing association has taken a 60% voluntary pay cut.

Steven Henderson, chief executive of 94,000-home Wheatley Group, took home £80,000 before tax in 2023/24, the group’s financial statements published yesterday show.

This compares to £205,000 before tax that Henderson earned last year, which included 10 months as finance director and two as chief executive.

Henderson also made a £75,000 donation to the group’s charity Wheatley Foundation.

A spokesperson for the group told Housing Today the reduction was Henderson’s “personal choice” but declined to elaborate more on the reasons.

Previous chief executive Martin Armstrong was paid £274,277 for the 10 months he served as chief executive in 2022/23 before his departure.

The pay cut emerged as Henderson warned this week that Wheatley’s development pipeline depends on government grant funding, amid mounting concern in the sector about the Scottish government’s affordable housing budget cuts.

Henderson, in his foreword to the group’s accounts, said: “While we are on track to meet our revised target of building up to 3,400 new homes by March 2026, Wheatley’s social landlords face a difficult economic environment.

“Our pipeline depends on the availability of government grant for new-build projects and we are working with our local authority partners and the Scottish”.

>>See also: CIH Scotland to announce housing emergency at national conference

>>See also: How do we respond to the devastating affordable housing funding cuts in Scotland?

Wheatley Group completed 348 new homes in the year to 31 March, down on the 644 it delivered last year. It said though it expects to hand over 700 homes in 2024/25, has 1,706 homes on site or due on site and believes it can hit its target of building 3,400 homes between 2021 and 2026. This target was revised down from an initial target of 5,500 homes.

The comments come after the Scottish government earlier this year cut the affordable housing budget for 2023/24 by nearly £200m, around 26%. The move prompted the Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland in March to declare “a housing emergency”

In its accounts, Wheatley Group said the budget reduction is “likely to have an impact on how many homes we can build.”

Latest official figures show the overall number of new homes completed in Scotland in the year to June was 19,293, a reduction of 17% on the total for the same period last year.