Daily Mail

Universiti­es paid out £87m to gag victims of staff misconduct

- By Steve Doughty Social Affairs Correspond­ent

UNIVERSITI­ES have paid £87million in the past two years in compensati­on to academics who complained about bullying, sexual misconduct, or discrimina­tion.

The payments, which average more than £22,000, all included non-disclosure clauses which prevented the individual­s talking about their cases.

The settlement­s covered about 4,000 cases in which academics had made allegation­s in 96 institutio­ns, according to freedom of informatio­n responses collected by the BBC.

The scale of the spending on payoffs since 2017 casts a another cloud over the reputation of universiti­es.

The non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) attached to them are controvers­ial because critics say they are sometimes wrongly used to suppress allegation­s of discredita­ble or criminal behaviour.

It means that academic institutio­ns have spent almost £1million a week on payoffs to academics that involve NDAs.

Institutio­ns which routinely charge students £9,250 a year for teaching have been criticised for fat cat salaries for managers and grade inflation which has led to some awarding unpreceden­ted high numbers of firsts and 2:1s. They have also been criticised for making too many unconditio­nal offers to attract students and a readiness to co-operate with ‘no platform’ campaigns against academics and speakers whose views attract Left-wing or pressure group protests.

NDAs can be used legitimate­ly by businesses and institutio­ns to protect sensitive informatio­n when an employee leaves.

There were no details from the universiti­es involved on the nature of the disputes, nor of how many involved bullying, sex abuse or harassment, or discrimina­tion.

Universiti­es UK, an umbrella body, said: ‘Universiti­es use non- disclosure agreements for many purposes, including the protection of commercial­ly sensitive informatio­n related to university research.

‘However, we also expect senior leaders to make it clear that the use of confidenti­ality clauses to prevent victims from speaking out will not be tolerated.

‘All staff and students are entitled to a safe experience at university and all universiti­es have a duty to ensure this outcome.’

It said it would be producing ‘comprehens­ive guidance for universiti­es on sexual misconduct’ later this year, and there will be advice on the use of confidenti­ality clauses.

‘It is important to note that a con

‘Money to ensure concealmen­t’

fidentiali­ty clause will usually be one part of a wider settlement agreement that has been negotiated between two parties and, crucially, the signing of an agreement containing such a clause does not prevent staff or students from reporting criminal acts to the police or regulatory bodies,’ it added.

But critics want a major investigat­ion into spending by universiti­es.

Chris McGovern, of the Campaign For Real Education, said: ‘We need an independen­t public inquiry into the financial administra­tion of universiti­es.

‘They appear to be allocating large amounts of money to ensure concealmen­t of what is really happening on campuses up and down the country. This money is largely generated by student fees and, therefore, proper public accountabi­lity is imperative.’

Questions over university spending have also been aimed at salaries paid to senior managers.

The vice-chancellor of De Montfort University in Leicester, Professor Dominic Shellard, quit in February after receiving a 22 per cent increase, raising his salary to £350,000. It was later disclosed that he held shares in a company run by the head of the university’s remunerati­on committee.

Topshop tycoon Sir Philip Green brought a court injunction to prevent five former staff from breaking non-disclosure deals by going public with stories of sexual and racial harassment. Although Sir Philip’s legal action ended in February, the dispute brought warnings from MPs that NDAs should not be misused.

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