The vice-chancellor of Bath University, whose pay package of £468,000 made her a figure of national controversy, has agreed to step down – but faced more criticism on Tuesday after it was revealed she will continue to be paid her full salary after she leaves her post.
Dame Glynis Breakwell, whose status as the UK’s highest-paid university leader provoked growing discontent among university staff, said in a statement that she would take a sabbatical at the end of the current academic year, focusing on academic work, before finally retiring in early 2019 at the age of 66.
Breakwell said that she had “served the university to the best of my ability”. The university said that “no payments for loss of employment or office will be made to her”, with a spokesperson confirming Breakwell will stay on full pay between the end of August, when she stands down as vice chancellor, and the end of February 2019. That would be a further £230,000 pay over the period.
The news means that the campus protest planned by students and staff for Thursday will go ahead as planned.
Union leaders at Bath expressed their anger at the decision, and calculated that – including the write-off of a £31,000 car loan – Breakwell will receive a further £600,000 from now until she retires in February.
“Professor Breakwell will receive more than £600,000 from the university, an enormous reward for failure, and will continue to exercise the authority which has generated the ‘climate of fear’ now openly talked-of on campus,” a joint statement from the campus unions UCU, Unite and Unison, said.
“Professor Breakwell has lost our trust and our confidence: she must go now.”
The unions also called for Breakwell to step down as a director of the University Superannuation Scheme – the national pension scheme for university staff – and for the resignation of Thomas Sheppard, the chair of the university council, as well as the members of the remuneration committee.
Michael Carley, the Universities and College union (UCU) leader at Bath, said that further payments would amount to “a reward for failure”. UCU and the other unions, including Unite and Unison, are calling for an overhaul of the university’s governance, and changes to the way pay is set for senior staff.
“We think she should go now instead of staying in charge for nearly another year,” Carley said.
Andrew Adonis, the former Labour minister who had highlighted Breakwell’s pay in a series of acerbic criticisms since July, celebrated on social media.
This is the worst case of fat-cat pay (£486k) but there are many others paid far too much & the spotlight is now on them to cut their pay sharply or resign. The VC of Southampton Uni is almost as bad as Bath https://t.co/9cQlo757Dq
— Andrew Adonis (@Andrew_Adonis) November 28, 2017
Adonis immediately turned his sights on other examples of high pay. “The VC of Southampton Uni is almost as bad as Bath,” he tweeted.
And he called the terms of Breakwell’s departure “outrageous”.
BATH UNI: Look at small print: the terms on which the VC is departing are outrageous. She is staying as a lame duck until next August & will then be on full pay for ANOTHER SIX MONTHS ('sabbatical') - ie she will be paid about £700,000 to go. This is the real story
— Andrew Adonis (@Andrew_Adonis) November 28, 2017
Ana Dinerstein, a member of the senate who last week voted no-confidence in Breakwell, said: “This is great opportunity for change that will start at Bath University and can spread throughout the sector. It can be a turning point.”
Breakwell confirmed her departure in a statement. “I will be standing down as vice-chancellor on 31 August 2018. On that day, I will have been in post 17 years which is one-third of the lifetime of the university,” she said.
“During that time, I have served the university to the best of my ability and will continue to do so until the day I leave office.”
While Breakwell’s time as vice-chancellor saw Bath rise up international and domestic rankings, she attracted considerable criticism over a series of rapid pay increases starting in 2011, and was recent upbraided by the higher education regulator for voting to thwart oversight by Bath’s university court.
A further £17,000 pay rise last year took her pay and benefits to £468,000 a year, well above the average for UK vice-chancellors.
Criticism has grown in recent months on Bath’s campus, and last week Breakwell only narrowly survived a vote of no confidence by the university’s senior academic body, the senate.
A staff meeting the same day saw a vote of no confidence carried.
Breakwell’s resignation comes just two days before the university’s next council meeting on Thursday, where she was also expected to be criticised by her colleagues, with staff and students planning to hold demonstrations on campus on the same day.
Her departure was precipitated by a damning report from the Higher Education Funding Council for England, after it investigated the conduct of the university’s remuneration committee and the events of university court meeting in February.
Breakwell was also a member of the remuneration committee that since 2011 had hiked her pay dramatically, by nearly £200,000 in the space of five years.
The decision to raise her pay by a further £50,000 for 2016 caused widespread dismay within Bath as it catapulted Breakwell into being the highest paid vice chancellor in the country. The mood among staff darkened as research by UCU found that Bath was one of the most enthusiastic adopters of zero-hours contracts for its staff.
The outcome follows tenacious reporting by the Bath Chronicle, which first published the events surrounding the remuneration committee and Breakwell’s pay in the face of hostility from the university’s administration.
