Mark Dowie, chief executive of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, is taking a 50% pay cut as part of the charity’s response to the coronavirus crisis.
Dowie’s annual salary was £160,000 last year, according to the RNLI website.
The charity has also announced that 30% of its 1,767-strong workforce will be placed on furlough until the crisis is over, with a commitment to top-up salaries above the caps set by government.
RNLI currently has eight months of free reserves, and Dowie says the charity will no doubt be using a portion of those reserves to get through the crisis.
One “big decision” taken in recent weeks was to suspend lifeguard duties.
RNLI lifeguards normally work at hundreds of beaches across the country, but Dowie said this has been suspended to safeguard both staff and the public.
Lifeguards are required to work in pairs, he explained, which is incompatible with social distancing rules. In addition, “lifeguards on beaches encourage beach-goers. And at the moment that is seriously discouraged”.
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