The Vice Chancellor received a £36,000 pay rise in the last financial year, LS can reveal.

A university financial report reveals that the Leeds VC received £318,000 annual pay for the 2012/13 financial year compared to £282,000 the previous year.

This comes after higher education staff went on strike for fairer pay following an offer of a one per cent pay increase.

Alice Smart, the Union’s Education Officer said: “Hearing that our Vice Chancellor has received a pay increase of £36,000 is unsettling and hard to justify given that most people who work for the university are experiencing a real terms pay cut and some are not even being paid a living wage.

A University spokesperson responded to the report saying: “In 2012, the University’s Remuneration Committee awarded an increase to the Vice-Chancellor’s salary of 3.7% – the first increase since 2009. The Vice-Chancellor’s salary is a reflection of the quality, scale and complexity of the University of Leeds.”

They added: “The Committee, which is made up of lay members, took a range of factors into account when making their decision, including market data, individual and University performance.”

Maddy Keating