A new ‘rich list’ has revealed that more than 4,000 University staff are paid more than £100,000 a year.
The institution with the highest number of high earners last year, with 359 staff receiving over £100,000 in total, and 110 receiving over £150,000 was the University of Edinburgh.
A study released by the Office for Students in March revealed that 117 staff at the University of Leeds were paid £100,000 in 2017 to 2018. This totals 1.6% of staff and the University ranked 8th amongst Universities for the relationship between the median salary of employees and the basic salary of the Vice-Chancellor according to those statistics.
The list was compiled by the Taxpayers’ Alliance, who sent Freedom of Information requests to 120 institutions, and say that results show just how much higher pay is ‘soaring’ in universities.
Kieran Neild of the TaxPayer’s Alliance, said their findings shed a light on the “thousands of University administrators taking home very plush pay packets.”
He goes on to say that:
“Taxpayers and students will be left with a degree of uncertainty over whether this is money being well spent, particularly when left-wing professors are so keen to lecture them about the evils of inequality.”
Around 430,000 people were employed by British universities last year, according to data from the Higher Education Statistical Agency.
Director of the Oxford Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies, Dacid Palfreyman, said that Vice-Chancellors now surround themselves with a “cadre” of managerial staff who are highly paid.
Vice-Chancellors have come under fire for their salaries recently. Earlier this year it was found that the average pay for University chiefs rose above £250,000 for the first time. This meant that more than 100 institutions offered pay rises in the last year.
There was increased scrutiny on large salaries of University chiefs too after student fees rose to £9250 per year at most institutions. The Universities watchdog has warned that University chiefs must be prepared to answer “tough questions” and be able to justify their salaries where necessary.
Ministers have called on Universities, which are autonomous and set their own salaries, to show more restraint rather than “ratcheting up” salaries.
A spokesman for Universities UK said:
“It is important for Universities to demonstrate that the process for determining pay for senior University staff is rigorous and that decisions are fair, explained and justified.”