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The University’s number 2 earner: pay rise between 8% and 17%

13 February 2014 | 11:33

Exactly how greedy is the University’s number two earner?

The University’s 2012/13 financial statement seem to show that the pay of the top earner below the VC went from the £230k-£240k pay zone to the £260k-£270k zone.

So is Number 2 scraping along with an 8% rise (if it went up a mere £20,000 from £240k to £260k) or did they get a splendid 17% rise (if it went up £40,000 from £230k to £270k)? Or maybe a middling 12%?

We’ll probably never know, as unlike the pay of grade 1-9 staff it is a secret. But we do know it is a vastly bigger percentage than the 1% being tossed at the staff, who you might think have rather more need of it.

Breaking news – VC “tax scam”?

6 February 2014 | 11:35

SUCU believes we have found out why the VC is having the employers pension contribution of £34,000 paid to him instead as salary. It seems to be a tax avoidance scam which many highly paid people are doing, as excessive pension amounts are now more heavily taxed. So as well as getting an outrageous pay rise, to £374,000, it appears he may also be avoiding paying his full taxes for the health, education and other services which make for a decent society. The scam is legal of course – look who writes the laws – but is it moral, particularly for someone leading a University?

See also article in Sheffield Telegraph – a letter from an alumni donor about the VC’s pay rise.