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York’s Vice-Chancellor, Koen Lamberts, was paid a colossal £282,000 last year – over SIX times the average staff salary at York, figures obtained by the Universities and College Union (UCU) show. The total is a combination of his salary and all other benefits that he receives.
The staggering sum is a 4% increase on the previous year, yet pay for hardworking academics only increased by 1% in the same period.
The figures also show that the University spent £3,000 on Lamberts’ air-fares last year, 84% of which were first class; £3,400 was spent on hotel accommodation for the VC’s trips; and that the VC claimed £1700 in “personal expenses”.
The costs of Lamberts’ flights were below the sector average of £7, 762 – however, his personal expenses claims were above the average of £1, 150.
The Vice-Chancellor’s pay is set by the University’s Remuneration Committee, chaired by the Head of the University Council, Sir Christopher O’Donnell. The University declined to release the secretive committee’s minutes to the UCU, arguing that “they contain information which is confi dential to individuals, and their release would therefore breach those individuals’ data protection rights”.
However, Lamberts’ pay is dwarfed by other fatcats in the sector, the report published last month also reveals. Birmingham’s head honcho was given a gigantic £378,000 – 10 times as much as the average Birmingham staff member – whereas the £434,000 given to Bath’s boss was a stunning 12 times as much as the average staff pay at the uni.
David Duncan, the University’s Registrar and Secretary told York Vision: “The VC’s salary is recorded in the 2016 Annual Report & Financial Statements as being £238,333; like all other members of staff , he is entitled to join a pension scheme which attracts employer contributions.
At this level, he is one of the lowest paid VCs of any leading research-intensive University in the UK. The pay of Vice Chancellors and the increases they receive annually reflect what it takes to attract and retain highly experienced higher education leaders in a competitive sector”.
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