National Highways’ remuneration committee has altered the terms of the chief executive’s performance-related pay in response to the House of Commons transport select committee’s investigations into smart motorways.

The chief executive can now earn a bonus based on traffic officer and sign setting response times to incidents on smart motorways, on the availability of the technology, and on the installation of emergency refuge areas.

The chief executive, Nick Harris, saw his basic salary increase by 6.5% last year from £293,000 to £312,120. His performance-related pay dipped from £20,000 to £18,972 but, with pension contributions and taxable benefits, his total remuneration came to £384,649 in the year to March 2023, an increase of 8.3% on the previous year.

By contrast, the median salary within the organisation increased by just 0.9% to £35,637.

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