The supervisory board of care group Humanitas DMH has been strongly criticised in an independent report for bypassing the management board and allowing an interim manager to earn €95,000 a month, the Volkskrant reports on Friday.

In September, the paper reported that the interim had been allowed to send such high bills by the board and that a former supervisory board member described the amount as a ‘private affair’.

Official limits on public sector pay do not set maximum salaries for people who are brought in for periods of less than six months.

However, in a confidential report, the independent healthcare governance committee said the interim had not been paid a ‘socially acceptable salary’ in terms of the code of conduct for good healthcare sector management, the Volkskrant said on Friday.

That code of conduct was signed by the Dutch association for the care of the disabled, of which Humanitas DMH is a member.

The outcry when the payments became public led to the interim and the supervisory board resigning.

Aart Bogerd, chairman of the new supervisory board, said the inquiry’s report showed that in the healthcare sector pay is also about moral responsibility.