UoM Vice Chancellor racks up more in expenses than support staff earn in a year

Manchester’s Vice Chancellor claimed over £35,000 in expenses over the last two and a half years, The Tab can reveal.

Nancy Rothwell has been VC since 2010

Dame Nancy Rothwell, who is also the Uni’s President, clocked up most of the unbelievable sum on extravagant travel and hotel stays around the world, from September 2011 to February 2014.

Chicago, San Francisco and Hong Kong are a few of the exotic places she flew to at the uni’s expense, but the priciest was a trip to Singapore and Malaysia, which came to nearly £5,500.

She also took nearly 50 trips to London in the same time period, spending up to £250 each time in rail fares.

A few more little extras appeared on the list too, like ‘dinner with a government advisor’, several claims for ‘hospitality’ and even a ten pound ‘water bottle for office’.

Fancy a trip to San Fran, Dame Rothwell? It’s on us

In the nine months from May 2013 to February 2014 alone, the Vice Chancellor bagged over 16 grand in allowances.

To put that into context, a cleaner, groundsman or receptionist at UoM earns a salary of just £14,000 – £16,000 in a whole year.

Do these ‘financial procedures’ need reviewing?

A spokesperson for the uni told The Tab:

“All claims for allowances and expenses must comply with the rules in the university’s financial procedures.”

Student and staff outside Tin Can

But the news hasn’t gone down well with staff unions, who have held several strikes over pay in the last few months.

A spokesman for the University and College Union, UCU, told The Tab:

“Students and staff may understandably question the vice-chancellor’s large expenses at a time when staff have been told to accept another real-terms pay cut.

“The people running our universities need to understand there isn’t one rule for those at the top and another for everyone else”.

Lecturers striking over  unfair pay are not happy…

What do you think? Harmless expenses or plain greed? Tell us below.