Two trustees at the Halo Trust were paid a combined total of £120,000 to review the charity’s structural, remuneration and governance arrangements following the suspension and eventual resignation of its founder and chief executive.

According to the landmine clearance charity’s recently released accounts for the year ending March 2015, two of the trustees received payment, totalling £122,750, and costs for accommodation close to the charity’s headquarters as they undertook a review of the charity’s internal structure.

The accounts state that the necessary consent for these payments was obtained from the Charity Commission.

The review was completed by Simon Conway and Amanda Pullinger. Conway also filled the role of executive trustee prior to the appointment of a new chief executive, “including advising and co-ordinating the actions of the senior management committee, and visiting and reviewing, as deemed necessary, operations of overseas programmes”.

Conway received £96,750 for this, with Pullinger receiving £26,000, in addition to accommodation for the period between October 2014 and March 2015.

No further payments were made to Conway or Pullinger from the end of June, when James Cowan, a British Army officer, took up the post of chief executive full-time. The charity’s governance costs for the year totalled £350,000, compared to £56,000 the previous year.

A spokeswoman for the charity said that Conway and Pullinger “provided the continuity that was needed” to keep the charity going.

The review came after the suspension and eventual resignation of Guy Willoughby in 2014 following a “serious deterioration” in relations between him and the board.

Willoughby, who founded the charity 25 years prior to this, was suspended after reports emerged about his pay packet and confirmation from the charity that it paid for the private boarding school education of his children.

In February of this year it was announced that Cowan would take up the position of chief executive in June.

Income up £2.5m

The charity saw its income rise by £2.47m in the last year, bringing it up to £26.63m. This was down to an increase in voluntary income, as well as the lease of field assets to the US division of the Halo Trust, donations in kind and the sale of other assets.

The highest-earning employee at the charity earned between £200,000 and £220,000. This was similar to last year when the highest earner received between £210,000 and £220,000.

The number of employees whose emoluments, excluding pension contributions, amounted to over £60,000 in the year went up by two to 14 – this includes Conway who received payment throughout the year as executive trustee.

A consultancy agreement with the former chief executive’s wife, Fiona Willoughby, was terminated in the last year, with no further payments made. The Halo Trust had entered into an agreement with her for the provision of professional photographic, marketing and fundraising services in July 2013. Under its terms, fees of £10,000 and expenses of £5,000 were charged to the trust.

The charity’s chair, Amanda Pullinger, praised the charity’s founder and former chief executive for his work for the charity.

She said: “As we celebrate our success and thank those who have supported us, we must also honour the vision and dedication of our previous chief executive and co-founder Guy Willoughby. Following his departure from Halo in 2014, we said goodbye to a bold leader and welcomed the appointment of a new and inspirational chief executive.”

This story has been updated (01/09/2015) to clarify that payment to Amanda Pullinger also ended, and that in 2015 14 staff were paid over £60,000.