REVEALED: The perks and expenses the University don’t want you to know about

Like £50k on flights and hotel rooms

expenses hotels pay rise UCU vice chancellor

Ex-Vice Chancellor Sir Howard Newby had thousands of pounds worth of flights, hotel rooms and expenses paid for him by the University.

Collecting a whopping £360,000 salary between 2013 and 2014, Sir Howard was the 16th highest-earning head in the country – taking home more than double the Prime Minister.

His fun didn’t stop there, though.

In the same year, the uni forked out £12, 573 on hotel rooms and a massive £27,403 on flights for Newby – 96.6 per cent of which were business and first class flights.

The startling figures have been exposed in a report by the University and College Union and come from a Freedom of Information request.

Sir Howard’s other expenses were covered by an additional £5,847 courtesy of the University.

18 Vice Chancellors enjoyed a salary increase of over 10 per cent last year, while in the same year a bitter dispute over pay saw staff take strike action against pay cuts and reduced pensions.

Out of the 155 universities contacted, 24 did not provide any response to the UCU’s Freedom of Information request.

Staff took to the streets in protest against pay cuts

On the findings of the report, UCU general secretary Sally Hunt, said: “What has been most striking is the huge variation in universities’ responses to our requests for information.

“Too many institutions refused to provide any information on expenses and the majority showed a strong determination to keep the details of decisions on senior pay a closely-guarded secret.

“Many staff and students will be amazed at the size of vice-chancellors’ salaries, and at the largesse displayed by some university leaders when it comes to first class flights, hotels and other expenses.

“That this is happening in public institutions which are largely funded by the taxpayer and students makes the lack of transparency and accountability surrounding senior pay and perks a national scandal.

“UCU has raised with ministers time and again the need for a national register of pay and perks, which would also set out the rationale for any increases.

“We need agreed standards for open and transparent governance in our universities so trust in the system can be restored.”

The report in full can be found here.