David Miliband earns £425,000-a-year as head of refugee charity International Rescue

Former foreign secretary David Miliband is paid a staggering $600,000 (£425,000) a year by the refugee charity International Rescue, it has been claimed. The huge sum is understood to have been declared publicly for the first time by the Charities Bureau and also reveals that Miliband's income is the reward for working 37.5 hours a week as head of the charity.

The sum is significantly more than the charity's previous boss, George Rupp, earned, according to Sebastian Shakespeare writing in the Daily Mail, who reported Rupp was paid $413,000 a year. It is also far more than Miliband earned as Foreign Secretary, for which he was paid £142,000 ($209,000).

Family divisions

The 50-year-old launched a failed bid to become leader of the Labour party in 2010 but lost out to his younger brother Ed, sparking deep divisions within the Miliband family. Three years later he moved to New York with his American violinist wife Louise Shackelton and their two children, becoming president and chief executive of the International Rescue Committee.

His job is to oversee humanitarian aid and development programs in 40 different countries, the budget for which is £450m a year – which means nearly £1 in every £800 spent by the charity is lining Miliband's pockets. The company employs a total of 12,000 members of staff and 1,300 volunteers.

The newspaper claimed the huge salary is not Miliband's only income, however, claiming he also makes up to £81,000-a-year renting out his home in Primrose Hill, North London while the family live in the US. David and Ed Miliband both inherited the property from father Ralph but Ed later sold his share to his brother.

International Rescue has received donations totalling €6.7m (£4.93, $7.28bn) this year, using that money to provide 16 million people with primary and reproductive health care and give 3.3 million people access to clean drinking water and sanitation. The charity says 93% of the money it spends around the world goes directly to helping those in need, 2% spent on fundraising, with a further 5% spent on management and general expenses.