University bosses ‘sit on or attend pay meetings’

Most university bosses sit on, or attend, the pay committees that set the salaries of their institution’s senior staff, figures indicate.

Nearly half of vice-chancellors are members of their university’s remuneration bodies, according to data collected by the University and College Union (UCU), while others are able to attend meetings.

It warned that there needs to be full transparencyof“seniorpayandperks” at UK universities. The data comes amid growing concerns over spiralling salary hikes for university chiefs.

UCU’S figures show that of the 143 institutions that provided responses, around 47 per cent (67 universities) said their vicechancellor is a member of the remuneration committee. Of those that said their leader was not a member of the committee, just seven said the vice-chancellor was not allowed to attend committee meetings.