UK university leaders’ average pay package increased by 5 per cent last year, according to new analysis.

According to the accounts of 115 institutions that have been published to date and were examined by ����Vlog, the average vice-chancellor’s total remuneration stood at £325,000 in 2022-23, a 5 per cent rise across the sample compared with a year before.

A vice-chancellor’s total remuneration typically includes benefits such as housing and pensions, along with a median salary of £272,000 in 2022-23 – up by 6 per cent year-on-year.

This puts the average rise among leaders broadly in line with the rise of between 5 per cent and 8 per cent handed to rank-and-file staff. But it comes amid growing financial strife across the sector, with some providers set to cut millions of pounds from their budgets and others announcing voluntary redundancy schemes.

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The 115 universities spent a total of £38.7 million on remunerating their vice-chancellors during 2022-23.

Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, said the public would “rightly be appalled when they see the exorbitant salaries vice-chancellors are receiving”.

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While institutions employing more than one vice-chancellor during the year typically had the largest outlays, one of the highest individual salaries again went to François Ortalo-Magné, dean of London Business School, who was paid £498,000.

Other pay packets were inflated by additional payments for departing vice-chancellors, including the £97,000 award in lieu of notice handed to David Richardson when he left the crisis-hit University of East Anglia last February.

Peter Neil retired as vice-chancellor of Bishop Grosseteste University in July and was one of the longest-serving leaders in the sector, but the institution’s accounts reveal that he received compensation for loss of office, including pay in lieu of notice, of £139,433.

When Charles Hunt left the University College of Osteopathy his compensation for loss of office reached £75,000.

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Other pay packages were boosted by performance-related bonuses. John Latham has received a bonus in every year of his tenure at Coventry University since 2014, including almost £200,000 over the last three years and £80,768 in 2022-23. That comes despite the institution warning that it must make nearly £100 million in cuts over the next two years.

Across the Russell Group, median total remuneration stood at £398,000, compared with £309,500 among post-92s.

Lucy Haire, director of partnerships at the ����Vlog Policy Institute (Hepi), who recently authored a paper calling for an end to the “witch-hunt” on vice-chancellor pay, said chief executives in the private sector overseeing comparable turnovers got paid much more.

“Being a vice-chancellor is a very tough job. They are running academic institutions but also big-budget businesses, which requires a very wide range of skills and a lot of experience,” she said.

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patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com