Unholy row as highest-paid cleric faces tribunal in fight to boost his £90,000 salary
BRITAIN’S highest-earning clergyman has sparked controversy with a bid to increase his pay further, it emerged yesterday.
Trouble flared after the Very Reverend Professor Martyn Percy, 57, claimed his £90,000 salary was not enough for his role as dean of Christ Church, Oxford University.
The role also sees him preside over the city’s cathedral.
Prof Percy is now taking the case to an employment tribunal, claiming he has been the victim of “religious discrimination”.
The clergyman has reportedly joined the Unite union – which represents some of the UK’s lowestpaid workers – to help fight the case set to begin in Reading on Monday.
Prof Percy was appointed to the prestigious role – with a salary higher than the Archbishop of Canterbury – in October 2014.
His package also includes free accommodation in a large 16th century house known to students as the deanery, which is set in the grounds of the college and provided the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland, by former student Lewis Carroll.
Anguish
Additional perks include a gardener, a cleaner, a book budget, a research allowance, a secretary, and three-course meals in Christ Church’s great hall.
Relationships with the governing body of the college – whose alumni include Albert Einstein, 13 British prime ministers, 10 chancellors of the exchequer and 17 archbishops – broke down after his request for a pay rise was rejected.
It escalated into a row over the governance of Christ Church with Prof Percy allegedly attempting to have members of the college’s salaries committee removed.
Relations were further soured by claim and counter claim of bullying and victimisation.
Prof Percy was suspended in November 2018 following a series of complaints made against him.
It led to a tribunal in August last year, presided over by retired High Court judge Sir Andrew Smith.
The judge dismissed complaints against the dean after a behindclosed-doors hearing, but found he had breached a “fiduciary duty”.
Prof Percy was reinstated but attempts at mediation failed to resolve the issues of the two parties.
Last November the governing body carried a vote of no confidence, by 38 to two, stating that Prof Percy’s actions since his return had led to “a breakdown of trust and confidence”.
He remains in post while legal actions continue, despite the row already costing the college up to £3million. Last night a source said: “The case is unprecedented. The dean got into serious dispute with various members of the governing body who sit with responsibility for these matters.
“There is a profound impasse.” In a statement yesterday Christ Church said: “We can confirm that we are in receipt of two employment tribunal claims from the Dean of Christ Church. We are all too conscious that what began as a request for a sizeable salary increase by the Dean has led, over the last two years, to heightened tensions between him and a majority of the governing body.
“Personal relationships have undoubtedly suffered and we all regret this deeply. We recognise the anguish that the Dean has previously expressed regarding the level of his remuneration.
“The governing body maintains that the Dean’s total remuneration package, which amounts to a significant six-figure sum, is fair and generous and regularly benchmarked against other posts.
“We hope we can find a way forward through this process and avoid considerable further cost.”