6 June 2018
A UCEA spokesperson said:
“While UCEA has no role in setting senior pay in HE institutions, it has been pleased to support CUC in the development of the its new HE Remuneration Code based on the important principles of fairness, accountability and transparency. UCEA has contributed to the sector's understanding through its data and analysis on pay multiples, pay growth and international comparators. UCEA has felt strongly that the focus of transparency should be on the senior executive team and has been concerned that HE employers do not see adverse impacts on their recruitment and retention of talent. There are around 30,000 'senior staff' in the HE sector, that is staff at the level of professor and above. Nearly 80% of them are academic staff. Senior management, as defined in the Code, comprise around 3% of this total (and 0.2% of all staff). Remuneration arrangements for senior staff are determined at the level of each individual HE institution. Recent analysis by UCEA finds that senior staff account for 19% of the overall paybill, a figure that has remained constant for several years.
“UCEA welcomes the focus on pay multiples between the head of the institution and the median pay of the workforce, as this is standard in other sectors. It is also a metric that UCEA has tracked for several years, since submitting evidence to the Hutton Review of Fair Pay in the Public Sector in 2011. The overall pay ratio at sector level was 6.8:1 in 2016-17 (varying across nations from 5.9:1 in Wales to 7:1 in England). This is comparable to pay ratios in HMRC (7.9:1), the Home Office (7:1) and the Ministry of Defence (7:1)**. The overall ratio for the Civil Service is 11:1. As expected pay multiples in the commercial world are far higher with John Lewis at 75:1 and the average FTSE 350 ratio at 52:1 (2015-16). Individual HE institution ratios are correlated with institutional income although other factors such as workforce composition can impact so care should be taken in making comparisons between HE institutions."
*UCEA"s analysis looked at the period 2012-13 to 2016-17. The proportion in each year during this period remained static at either 18.8% or 18.9%.
**www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/datasets/medianpayannexb
ENDS
For further information: Please contact Andy Fryer, Head of Communications and Membership (a.fryer@ucea.ac.uk) or Marc Whittaker, Communications and Events Manager (m.whittaker@ucea.ac.uk). Call 020 7383 2444.
A UCEA spokesperson said:
“While UCEA has no role in setting senior pay in HE institutions, it has been pleased to support CUC in the development of the its new HE Remuneration Code based on the important principles of fairness, accountability and transparency. UCEA has contributed to the sector's understanding through its data and analysis on pay multiples, pay growth and international comparators. UCEA has felt strongly that the focus of transparency should be on the senior executive team and has been concerned that HE employers do not see adverse impacts on their recruitment and retention of talent. There are around 30,000 'senior staff' in the HE sector, that is staff at the level of professor and above. Nearly 80% of them are academic staff. Senior management, as defined in the Code, comprise around 3% of this total (and 0.2% of all staff). Remuneration arrangements for senior staff are determined at the level of each individual HE institution. Recent analysis by UCEA finds that senior staff account for 19% of the overall paybill, a figure that has remained constant for several years.
“UCEA welcomes the focus on pay multiples between the head of the institution and the median pay of the workforce, as this is standard in other sectors. It is also a metric that UCEA has tracked for several years, since submitting evidence to the Hutton Review of Fair Pay in the Public Sector in 2011. The overall pay ratio at sector level was 6.8:1 in 2016-17 (varying across nations from 5.9:1 in Wales to 7:1 in England). This is comparable to pay ratios in HMRC (7.9:1), the Home Office (7:1) and the Ministry of Defence (7:1)**. The overall ratio for the Civil Service is 11:1. As expected pay multiples in the commercial world are far higher with John Lewis at 75:1 and the average FTSE 350 ratio at 52:1 (2015-16). Individual HE institution ratios are correlated with institutional income although other factors such as workforce composition can impact so care should be taken in making comparisons between HE institutions."
*UCEA"s analysis looked at the period 2012-13 to 2016-17. The proportion in each year during this period remained static at either 18.8% or 18.9%.
**www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/datasets/medianpayannexb
ENDS
For further information: Please contact Andy Fryer, Head of Communications and Membership (a.fryer@ucea.ac.uk) or Marc Whittaker, Communications and Events Manager (m.whittaker@ucea.ac.uk). Call 020 7383 2444.
