Government will not step in over vice-chancellors’ pay

Individual institutions will not be given set criteria for vice-chancellors’ pay despite strong concern from a Commons committee, the Department for Education has confirmed.

In its response to the Commons education committee’s November 2018 report on value for money in higher education, which claimed the current system of self-regulation for senior management pay “is totally unacceptable”, the government stressed that universities alone are responsible for paying their vice-chancellors.

“Universities are autonomous institutions and they are solely responsible for setting the pay of their staff, including senior managers. The government is not seeking to set pay levels within providers,” the government wrote in response to the committee’s suggestion that the Office for Students should set pay criteria for universities.