University chief on £450k claims £8k for cleaning and her laundry!
A UNIVERSITY chief who earns £450,000-a-year and lives rentfree in a £1.6million home has claimed £8,000 for laundry and housekeeping on expenses.
Dame Glynis Breakwell faced calls to quit the University of Bath last night after it emerged she had claimed more than £18,000 in total during the last academic year.
Along with the £8,000 on washing, ironing and other housekeeping duties, the university spent £1,286 on electricity at the house, £3,848 on gas, £390 on water and sewerage and £3,082 on council tax. The vice chancellor also billed them £279 for cleaning products.
Dame Glynis’s latest expenses accounts have emerged weeks after the charities watchdog was asked to examine whether her salary is in line with charitable duties and responsibilities.
Critics say there is a huge gulf between the salaries of ordinary staff and those of management at the university, where students are charged the maximum £9,250 for tuition. Her expenses were revealed following a freedom of information request from local Labour councillor Joe Rayment.
He said: ‘Once again, the public, students and staff are seeing the extent to which they are funding privilege at the University of Bath. While ordinary working people in this city have seen rent and bills rise at a much faster rate than their wages, Glynis Breakwell has seen her salary skyrocket and her rent and bills stay static at £0.
‘I repeat my calls today for Glynis Breakwell to resign.’
The 65-year-old was last year exposed for claiming £20,000 in 12 months – including £2 on biscuits – on top of her large salary and grace-and-favour home. But it appears she has continued to demand vast sums from her institution during the 2016/17 academic year, despite being Britain’s highest-paid university chief.
Last night Lord Adonis, former Labour education minister, said: ‘Professor Breakwell appears to have no shame or restraint in claiming huge expenses on top of her already colossal salary and free house in the historic centre of Bath. It can only be a matter of time now before she is forced to stand down.’ The figures came as Jo Johnson, the universities minister, launched a crackdown on vice chancellor pay and said those wanting enormous salaries were ‘simply in the wrong business’.
The MPs Kerry McCarthy, Darren Jones, David Drew and Andrew Murrison all recently quit roles at Bath’s university court in protest at her pay.
In February, the court – a body which represents the interests of its stakeholders – met to discuss a motion censuring the remuneration committee for allowing Dame Glynis’s pay to escalate. After a debate, the court voted by 33 to 30 not to censure the committee – although the vice chancellor and members of the remuneration committee took part in the vote themselves.
Kerry McCarthy, Labour MP for Bristol East, said: ‘I would like to see the vice chancellor of Bath justify to her students, who will leave university with a massive debt burden – and, indeed, to lowlypaid academic staff – why she deserves this level of pay and perks.’ A university spokesman said the expenses were not registered as Dame Glynis’s personal expenses because her flat sometimes hosts university events.
They said: ‘ The universityowned property provides a venue for university activities such as hosting events for visitors from honorary graduates to community leaders, industry partners, staff and students.’
Dame Glynis was not available for comment at her Bath townhouse yesterday.
MP quits post over Bath chief ’s £450k From the Mail, August 12