Dame Glynis Breakwell is the out-going head of Bath University,
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- 22 Dec 2020
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Some of the highest paid vice-chancellors in the country have earned tens of thousands of pounds from the university sector’s main pension scheme, which is billions of pounds in deficit.
Dame Glynis Breakwell, the out-going head of Bath University, received £50,000 last year as chairwoman of the Universities Superannuation Scheme's (USS) policy committee.
She currently earns £468,000, making her the best paid vice-Chancellor in the UK, and will retire in August with a “golden handshake” of £265,000.
Sir David Eastwood, vice-chancellor of Birmingham University whose salary is £439,000, was paid £90,000 as chairman of the fund.
The scheme, which has a £7.5 billion deficit, is one of the largest principal private pension schemes for British universities and other higher education institutions.
Universities UK, the vice-chancellors membership body, has recommended ending the defined benefit scheme, which would see payments to scheme members reduced in their retirement.
University and College Union (UCU) is currently balloting its members for industrial action over the proposed changes.
It comes amid widespread criticism of vice-Chancellor pay packets, including from Jo Johnson, the universities minister, who has spoken out against the "upwards rachet" of salaries.
He said that any member of a university’s senior leadership team with salaries over £150,000 will have to justify their salary to the new regulator, the Office for Students (OFS), or face a fine.
Dame Glynis announced her retirement last month after facing repeated calls to resign from her own staff as well as from Lord Adonis, the Labour peer and former education minister. Sir Anton Muscatelli, principal of the University of Glasgow, is also paid £35,000 to sit on the USS board.
A spokesman from the university told Times Higher Education that Sir Anton “gifts this entire amount every year” to the university and “always has done”, because “he thinks it is the right thing to do”.
Sir David said that the value of his giving to the university “exceeds £100,000”, while Dame Glynis said that she had “always chosen not to publicise the nature, scale or object of my philanthropy”
A spokesman for UCU accused “well-remunerated vice-chancellors” on the USS board of “pulling the ladder up on their staff” at a time when UUK’s proposed reforms threatens to slash pensions by up to 40 per cent.
The USS annual company report revealed that the remuneration of its 12 directors totalled £731,000 in the year ending March 2017, up from £591,000 the previous year. A USS spokesman said that vice-chancellors sitting on the board “have personal responsibilities to fulfil as directors of the trustee company that are distinct from their other roles”.
“Board members are responsible for the stewardship of a significant financial institution ... which requires a substantial commitment of time and effort to demanding roles,” the spokesman said.
"They are remunerated on a basis which is approved by the joint negotiating committee, made up of union and employer representatives. No member of the JNC serves on the [USS] board.”
