Veyo salaries were an average of £74,300

Staff at failed e-conveyancing project paid average £74k

Staff at the Law Society’s failed e-conveyancing business were paid average salaries of nearly £75,000 annually, final account figures for Veyo revealed.

For the year ending October 31, 2015, the ten staff involved with the business were paid a total of £743,000. Ultimately, Veyo went down with losses of more than £11.4 million, most of which was borne by the body that represents solicitors in England and Wales.

The project, which collapsed just six months after launch, has been highly criticised by conveyancing specialist solicitors. Its board of directors included several prominent names from the society’s Chancery Lane headquarters, including the current president, Jonathan Smithers, and the chief executive, Catherine Dixon.

Also driving the project were the former chief executive Des Hudson, who resigned as Veyo chairman four months before the plug was pulled, and Nigel Spencer, another former senior Law Society executive.

Law Society officials were contrite when Veyo sank in December 2015. A spokeswoman told The Times at the time that the organisation was “sorry” for the failure. However, society chiefs did not accept that they were lax in project management and financial controls. “They took steps to reduce operating costs and to ensure that more conveyancing experts were involved in looking at the product’s functionality and usability,” the spokeswoman added.