Incoming NUS chief executive to earn £100k-a-year

In between eradicating lad culture and (nearly) banning Coca Cola, the NUS will pay their new chief executive a staggering six figure salary.

Simon Blake, who was appointed this summer, will earn a bumper £100,000-a-year for working underneath NUS President Megan Dunn.

The eye-watering number is £10k higher than the salary reportedly paid to Simon’s predecessor Ben Kernighan, who stepped down after less than 10 months after deciding the role was no longer a fit for his style.

The decision to increase the salary for the top job has raised eyebrows, especially as the NUS’s most recent financial statements show a loss of over £600k.

When asked about the pay rise, an NUS spokesman said: “In order to attract the right calibre of person who could do this job and sustain it, it was decided we had to offer a competitive salary.

“The salary decision was approved by the student board of trustees as well as at conference.”

Before Simon’s arrival at the NUS, the highest-paid employee was on no more than £90,000 a year, with 21 staff earning more than £40k. In total, staff wages – as well as social security and pensions – cost the NUS nearly £8.5million.

Although turnover for their most recent financial year reached a staggering £20million, staff expenditure and other costs meant the NUS operated at a loss of £602,881, an increase of more than seven times the total loss of the year before.

Despite these financial struggles, elected NUS reps on the board of trustees and at annual conference approved the decision to offer a six-figure salary to the incoming chief executive. The average wage paid by the NUS is over £30k a year.

As chief executive, Simon’s mandate is to help the NUS set priorities and achieve their goals. In a recent interview with Third Sector, he said: “One of the big issues at the moment is about the environment and divestment from fossil fuels.

“Between us, as a movement, we have to decide whether we put our resources there or whether is there something else we should be doing, such as protecting the disabled student allowance.”