£1m a year student hall fat cats
University housing firm bosses cash in on the lack of digs across the country Hardly the Young Ones... parents fork out £28k for luxury flats
THREE fatcat bosses were paid more than £1million each by a firm last year to run student halls of residence, figures show.
Unite Students, the country’s largest student accommodation provider, paid £3.9million in total to the trio in salary, benefits and bonuses.
The highest paid was chief executive Richard Smith, who received £1.4million – more than 50 times the average UK salary. This included £437,167 in wages, an annual bonus of £401,407, pension benefit of £84,506 and £476,619 via a long-term incentive plan.
The bumper payments were revealed in the latest company accounts.
They prompted concerns bosses were being funded by ‘public money and student debt’.
Increasing numbers of student halls are being provided by for-profit companies because many universities are expanding student numbers faster than they can build their own on- campus accommodation.
Part of the cost of this accommodation is met by maintenance loans to students, with the bill transferred to the taxpayer if the balance is not settled within 30 years.
The rest is picked up by parents – particularly middle earners whose children are not eligible for the full loan. While most universities say they are not officially affiliated with the private halls, their housing offices sometimes refer students to them if they miss out on a campus room.
Yesterday Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union said: ‘These huge salaries are being funded by public money and student debt.
‘Inflation-busting rent hikes have left increasing numbers of students struggling to keep up with their bills, yet the accommodation providers continue to award themselves huge salaries.
‘The review of student finance needs to look at the best way to support students while they are at university, but they need that money to help them study, not to fund further rent hikes by greedy accommodation providers.’
The second-best paid at Unite was Joe Lister, chief financial officer, who received £1.3million, and there was £1.2million for former property director Richard Simpson. Unite is the UK’s biggest provider of pur-
pose-built student accommodation, with 36,385 beds nationwide.
But financial rewards were rich for the bosses of other major private accommodation providers too. Annual accounts show the highest-paid director of IQSA Services Ltd – part of iQ Student Accommodation – received £ 1,058,000 last year. Goldman Sachs and the Wellcome Trust are majority shareholders in iQ Student Accommodation.
Another major provider, UPP, paid all of its directors a total of £4.7million, according to its annual report. A study by the National Union of Students found that in 2006, 82 per cent of student accommodation was operated by universities, but in 2016 it was just 59 per cent.
A Unite spokesman said: ‘Like any public company, Unite’s executive remuneration is determined by an independent committee and approved by shareholders. Our customers are students and universities CINEMA rooms, posh kitchens and kitted-out gyms – it’s a far cry from the squalid digs that TV’s the Young Ones were used to.
But that’s the level of luxury being offered to students by private halls at many top universities, according to Daily Mail research.
The priciest halls were in London, where private firm CRM Students was charging £559 per week for 51 weeks at its Canto Court site – a total of £28,500 a year – for King’s College students.
Accommodation in Cardiff was offered for £9,639 over 51 weeks which had a shared cinema, gym, and music practice room – again courtesy of CRM Students.
And those at Bristol can pay £14,280 for a studio in Brunel House via Unite Students.
While most private halls are not who need accommodation and have a choice of options.’
A spokesman for iQ said: ‘Each year, iQ has extremely high occupancy rates across a wide range of accommodation options, demonstrating the appeal we have and the value we give to our higher education partners and the students
officially affiliated to universities, they target students who have missed out on traditional campus ‘digs’ – often because they went through clearing.
Most of the universities involved said they provided affordable options on campus and pointed out they were not affiliated with the private halls.
A Unite spokesman said: ‘We are acutely aware of the financial pressures that students face. Whilst we do offer a relatively small number of premium studio options, the overwhelming majority of our beds – approximately 92 per cent – are rooms in shared flats that are priced for the cost conscious mainstream student.’
The companies running the private halls all said they provided options to suit all budgets.
who choose to stay with us.’ A UPP spokesman said: ‘We seek individuals with a long-term commitment to the sector, who are fully focused on providing the best deals for our partner universities and a great residential experience for students.’