Ian Marchant, outgoing Chief Executive of SSE, has decided to waive the payment that would have been made under the company’s Annual Incentive Scheme for 2012/13; instead, the money will be used to establish a training and development trust for the benefit of current and future employees of SSE.
Under the Scheme, Ian Marchant would have been entitled to a payment of £329,000. This waived sum will, instead, be used to establish a fund that will enable current and future employees of SSE to undertake training, development and other career opportunities that are not available under the company’s existing schemes.
To ensure that the money is clearly additional to SSE’s existing schemes, the new fund will be overseen by independent trustees, who will also consider the applications for funding. Any employee of SSE, or any person who has accepted an offer of employment from SSE, will be eligible for funding.
The opportunities that the training and development trust could support include:
- vocational, further or higher education courses;
- bursary assistance for those who could not otherwise afford to undertake further development activity;
- career conversion training for employees looking to change career within SSE; and
- hardship funding assistance for students who have accepted an employment offer with SSE and would not been able to commence or complete their studies without financial assistance
Ian Marchant said:
“Throughout my 21 years at SSE, I have worked with committed and talented people in every part of the organisation, and I want to say ‘thank you’. I am very pleased that the Board has agreed that a new fund of this kind is the best way of doing that. I hope it will help people fulfil their ambitions when they are starting their career, progressing their career or changing their career.”
Lord Smith of Kelvin, Chairman of SSE, said:
“It is typical of Ian’s style that he wants to say ‘thank you’ to the people he has worked with, and this new fund should provide many opportunities for many people in SSE. It will deliver real benefits for years to come and I am looking forward to seeing applications to the new fund starting to come through later in the year.”