Bath v-c Glynis Breakwell gets further pay rise to £468k

Former Labour education minister Lord Adonis has called for the vice-chancellor of the University of Bath to resign, after it was revealed she received a further pay increase in the past academic year.

Dame Glynis Breakwell was awarded a 3.9 per cent pay rise in 2016-17 by the institution’s remuneration committee, raising her total wages and benefits from £451,000 to more than £468,000.

The salary increase was revealed in a freedom of information request by the Bath Chronicle. It found that Dame Glynis’ pay was increased by the 1.1 per cent national pay award for university staff and an extra 2.8 per cent by the remuneration committee.

In January, Times Higher Education revealed that Dame Glynis was the highest paid vice-chancellor in the UK and that she had received an 11 per cent pay rise to £451,000 in 2015-16. Her wages have been under scrutiny since then.

The latest pay rise was awarded while Dame Glynis was still a member of the remuneration committee, but the Bath Chronicle reported that the committee’s minutes show that she withdrew from the meeting while her pay was under discussion. Last month, the university announced that Dame Glynis would step down from the panel that sets her pay.

Labour peer Lord Adonis tweeted that the pay rise was “shameless and outrageous” and told The Guardian that Dame Glynis should step down.

“She has got to resign now. Her behaviour is outrageous and Bath University needs new, untainted leadership,” he said.

A Bath university spokesperson told the Bath Chronicle: “It is right that the university pays the salaries required to recruit and retain individuals with the skills and experience to ensure the continued success of the university and its excellence in teaching and research.”

In July, Lord Adonis urged the government to “cut vice-chancellors’ pay” and accused Dame Glynis of “greed” over her salary.

Universities minister Jo Johnson has also attacked university leaders’ salaries. In June, he said that universities would be made to “publicly justify” any pay above that of the prime minister, which stands at £150,402 a year.

ellie.bothwell@timeshighereducation.com