Historical child abuse judge to be paid over £480,000 a year

Justice Lowell Goddard will receive a salary of £360,000 plus an annual rental allowance of £110,000 in addition to £12,000 for utlities.

In addition, the Home Office will pay for four return flights to her native New Zealand.

Panel members will be paid £565 per day, with staffing costs making up 41 per cent of the total budget.

Twenty one per cent of the budget relates to establishing and running offices while operational costs account for 17 per cent.

The Home Secretary Theresa May approved a budget of £17.9 million for the inquiry in 2015/16.

Justice Goddard said that while this was a large sum, it was “carefully costed” and “essential to meet the inquiry’s core operational requirements”.

Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Committee at Westminster “noted” that Justice Goddard’s pay would be over £2.4m if the inquiry lasted five years.

He also called for legal costs to be revealed, saying: “It is also important that we have a breakdown of the legal costs, as it has been suggested that a number of lawyers will be involved.”