EDITORIAL: THE QUOTED COMPANIES ALLIANCE
NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SURVEY 2022

The Quoted Companies Alliance (QCA) is an independent membership organisation set up to champion the interests of small to mid-sized quoted companies. Roughly every other year since 2013, they have conducted a survey of non-executive directors in this sector and have recently released the results of the latest survey, conducted with YouGov.

The largest proportion of companies (41 per cent) paid their non-execs between £30,000 and £40,000. The overall average was £40,500, a significant fall from 2019 (the previous survey) when the average was £48,840. Salaries had steadily increased between 2013 and 2019 but are now back down to about the same level as they were in 2017.

The mean number of hours per month that non-execs work for their companies was 11, down from 13.9 in 2019, markedly lower than any other figure this survey has recorded and may be a reason for the decline in pay.

Concerning the contribution non-execs make to their companies, the most prominent values cited were bringing broader business experience (29 per cent) and providing checks and balances (24 per cent). Improved corporate governance is seen as the third largest benefit according to the companies (19 per cent) and long-term vision and planning are not far behind (16 per cent). Providing checks and balances has increased markedly over the time that the survey has been running in the view of the companies as a contribution of their non-execs.

The key areas where non-execs could increase their impact and long-term vision planning were having valuable contacts with other companies and broader business experience.

You can find the full survey here.