by Trevor Sturgess

A building society boss has defended his inflation-busting pay rise, saying the society was "the most efficient in the UK".

Mike Lazenby, chief executive of Kent Reliance Building Society, and two senior colleagues were accused of "greed" after their salaries went up by 11 per cent.

Kent Reliance, based in Chatham, paid Mr Lazenby a package worth £535,000 (£481,000 the previous year), while deputy chief executive Rob Procter, who left the mutual at the end of last year, and finance director Bob Scruton, finance director, each received a package worth £337,000 (£302,000).

The package was made up of salary and fees, a bonus - £77,000 for Mr Lazenby and £49,000 each for Messrs Procter and Scruton - and contribution to a personal pension.

Peter Clews, from Coxheath, near Maidstone, has a mortgage with the society. In a letter to Mr Lazenby, he claimed the salaries were "grossly-inflated" and accused directors of "total greed".

"The average UK salary is £27,000 and I can tell you now most people work as hard as you and yet you are earning £535,000, nearly 20 times as much," he wrote. "How can you walk through the KRBS doors at Sun Pier past your office staff struggling possibly on £23 - £25,000 a year?"

But Mr Lazenby said there was some confusion because the salaries mentioned in the society’s report related to the year ending September 30, 2008, when the society made a profit of £12 million. He and his fellow directors would be taking a 15 per cent pay cut in year ending September 2009.

However, staff had been given a bonus. They were paid less than directors because "they don’t have the responsibilities that we have and they don’t have to cope with the pressures we have."

He typically worked 80 hours a week. A building society of Kent Reliance’s size would normally have seven or eight executives. "We have chosen to work harder with fewer."

He added: "We’ve got the lowest relative costs, the lowest cost-income ratio and the highest level of efficiency. That doesn’t happen by accident, that takes a lot of hard work. We are the most efficient building society in the UK."

Members are being asked to vote on the pay proposals before the annual meeting at Rochester on January 26.