UK charities on Tuesday defended the six-figure salaries they pay their senior executives, arguing they were necessary to secure the right talent in a highly competitive market.
They were responding to research that the number of staff at the 14 charities connected to the Disasters Emergency Committee who were paid more than £100,000 had risen from 19 to 30 over the past three years.
Save the Children, which in 2012 paid its chief operating officer £168,653, said it paid "appropriately competitive wages that are benchmarked regularly against two external salary surveys".
"We can't and shouldn't compete with salaries in the private sector, but we need to pay enough to ensure we get the best people to help our work to stop children dying needless deaths," the charity said.
Save the Children's income has risen from £161m to £284m in the past five years.
Christian Aid is paying Loretta Minghella, chief executive and former director of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, £126,072 this year and next year. It said it had a strict policy "that requires us to set salaries at or below the median of other church-based and/or international development agencies".
It cited a March 2013 survey of the UK's top charities by income, conducted by Third Sector magazine, in which the median pay for the heads of the top 100 organisations, which included Christian Aid, was £165,000. The mean was about £210,000.
Oxfam GB, which paid chief executive Barbara Stocking £119,560 in the 2012-13 financial year, said her salary had risen in recent years after it had become uncompetitive compared with similar organisations. It estimated that Lady Stocking would earn an additional £75,000 in a similar private-sector organisation.
The agency also said that of every £1 donated to Oxfam, 9p was spent on running costs.
William Shawcross, chairman of the Charity Commission, told the Daily Telegraph, which conducted the research with the help of Conservative MP Priti Patel, that it was up to each charity to set its salaries.
"However, in these difficult times, when many charities are experiencing shortfalls, trustees should consider whether very high salaries are really appropriate, and fair to both the donors and the taxpayers who fund charities," the Telegraph quoted him as saying.
"Disproportionate salaries risk bringing organisations and the wider charitable world into disrepute.''
DEC, which brings the 14 charities together in times of crisis, says it has raised more than £1.1bn through 62 appeals since its launch in 1963. Its largest appeal was after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, in which £392m was raised.
The charities involved with DEC include Action Aid, Age International, British Red Cross, Cafod, Care International, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Plan UK, Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision.
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