Olympic bosses take home £2.5m

Olympic bosses are paying themselves more than £2.5 million a year, a new report has found, despite controversy over whether or not the Olympics will be delivered on budget.

Olympic bosses are paying themselves more than £2.5 million a year, a new report has found, despite controversy over whether or not the Olympics will be delivered on budget.

An Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) report shows that - contrary to press speculation - there is an 80 per cent chance the Olympic games will be finished within budget.

While the figures show a more reliable forecast than some newspapers have been making out, the one in five chance of overrunning the £7 billion budget is enough to lead some to question the paycheques currently being received by bosses.

David Higgins, chief executive of the ODA took home £624,000 last year, with £205,000 being performance related pay. The second and third biggest recipients are Dennis Hone and Howard Shiplee, who took home £358,000 and £357,000 respectively.

Despite funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Olympic Lottery Authority and the Greater London Authority the Olympic organisers were nevertheless indebted to creditors to the tune of £28 million in the year 2007-8.

So far the Olympics have cost £860 million - of which £444 million has been spent on preparations for construction and infrastructure regeneration.