UCU: Controlling excessive senior management pay in higher education

Motion

Motion title: Controlling excessive senior management pay in higher education

Motion text: Conference notes that:
1 Senior management salaries in HE institutions continue to increase, with Vice-Chancellors regularly being paid more than £300,000 annually, often with additional bonuses and benefits. Their pay is typically determined by unaccountable boards of governors and remuneration committees;
2 In contrast, other staff have consistently received below-inflation pay rises and are threatened by
compulsory redundancies and poor pensions schemes.
Conference believes that:
a. Senior management salaries should be determined within nationally agreed pay scales;
b. No non-academic senior manager should be paid more than the most eminent senior academic who works in an active research or teaching role;
c. The unfair disparities between senior managers’ pay and that of others would be reduced if all higher education pay was determined by transparent negotiation.
Conference therefore resolves to:
1. Campaign for the inclusion of senior management roles within a published pay spine for HE.