Cranswick, a leading UK meat supplier, has faced renewed criticism after revealing a £5.3 million pay package awarded to its chief executive, Adam Couch, despite a high-profile animal cruelty scandal linked to one of its pig farms. Couch’s compensation for the year ending March 2026 represents a 13% increase from £4.7 million the previous year and includes a £975,000 salary, a £1.95 million bonus, £2.26 million in long-term share awards, as well as pension contributions and other benefits.
The pay package drew sharp condemnation from animal rights campaigners following a 2025 investigation that disclosed serious welfare violations at Cranswick’s Northmoor site in Lincolnshire. Undercover footage, captured over several weeks by the Animal Justice Project, showed mistreatment including botched piglet killings and physical abuse. The revelations led Cranswick to terminate four employees, launch an internal investigation, and prompted major supermarket chains such as Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, and Tesco to temporarily suspend purchases from the farm.
Cranswick’s annual report stated that Couch’s bonus was the maximum awarded, achieved through meeting all targeted goals, including environmental, social, and governance (ESG) benchmarks. Among the cited accomplishments was the commissioning of an independent animal welfare review and the subsequent implementation of its recommendations—a response directly linked to the prior scandal.
Claire Palmer, director of the Animal Justice Project, criticized the remuneration, calling it “impossible to justify” and “disgraceful.” She argued that rewarding the chief executive partly for commissioning a welfare review following exposed abuse sends the wrong message and suggested the bonus effectively recognized the need to manage fallout from the scandal rather than prevent it. Andrew Speke of the High Pay Centre echoed these concerns, describing the pay rise amid a corporate controversy as itself scandalous.
In response, Cranswick emphasized its ongoing commitment to improving animal welfare standards. Since releasing the independent review in November 2025, the company reported significant progress, including the installation of over 440 artificial intelligence–enabled CCTV cameras across its farms, the appointment of dedicated animal welfare officers, and enhanced staff training programs designed to uphold improved care practices.