Housebuilder Persimmon’s award of a £75m bonus to its chief executive, Jeff Fairburn, was “almost unfathomable”, the housing minister, Dominic Raab, has told MPs.
Persimmon faced fierce criticism earlier this year after it emerged that a rise in profits, which has been attributed to the taxpayer-backed help-to-buy scheme, would trigger more than £2oom in bonuses for three executives.
The company trimmed the payouts by £51m amid widespread outrage, with Fairburn accepting a cut from £100m to £75m and promising to give a “substantial” portion to an unnamed charity.
