On the BBC’s “Sunday Politics South” programme on Sunday (10 December 2017) a member of staff who is also a UCU representative made the comment, in an item on Vice-Chancellor pay:
“We’ve got a situation where a bunch of senior managers all get together in a room and decide how much they are all going to pay each other.”
This statement was untrue and misleading, and we want to ensure that our staff and students are aware of the actual position.
At no point as Vice-Chancellor at Southampton or Surrey universities has Sir Christopher Snowden ever been present at any review or approval of his own salary, at Senior Salaries or Remuneration committee meetings. No other senior members of staff have ever been present at any review or approval of their own salary at these meetings.
The Senior Salaries committee, now renamed Remuneration committee, is made up of and chaired by independent, unpaid, members of Council, and reviews annual appraisals of senior staff as well as setting pay levels. The Vice-Chancellor, under our Ordinances, was technically a member of the former Senior Salaries committee, but is not a member of the new Remuneration Committee. Decisions on salaries, strictly in the absence of the senior member of staff concerned, are only taken by the independent Council members.
The BBC also broadcast an incorrect figure for the Vice-Chancellor’s salary, after mistakenly amalgamating salary figures for the current and previous Vice-Chancellors in 2015/16. A formal on-screen correction has been requested.
