King’s College London (KCL) placed second in a ranking of the number of university staff earning over £100,000 annually, in research published by the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA).
This article was originally published in print on 28 November 2024.
KCL has 574 staff members earning over £100,000 annually, second on the University Rich List behind Imperial College London at 1,231. The University of Bristol ranked third on the list, with 560 staff members earning over that amount.
Across the UK, 10,447 university staff members earn over £100,000, according to new figures. Most of the universities with the highest number of staff members earning over this amount are research-intensive institutions within the Russell Group.
The TPA currently estimates that the total cost of the staff receiving over £100,000 across the UK in 2023-24 is over £1.2 billion.
Previous analysis by Times Higher Education found that the average pay packet for a Vice-Chancellor had increased by 5% to £325,000 in the academic year 2022-23. University tuition fees are increasing simultaneously and could hit as much as £10,500 by 2029. Students will pay over £9,500 per year from the next academic year.
Shimeon Lee, a researcher at TPA, argued that the number of “university fat cats” had gone through a “shocking surge” recently. He said, “Students are being given increasingly poor service, leaving them in significant debt but without the employment prospects expected, yet the top brass are benefitting from surging pay packets”.
A Roar investigation published earlier this year exposed a series of expenses claims by KCL Vice-Chancellor, Professor Shitij Kapur.
A total of £37,068 was spent renovating his flat in the Maughan Library, which is almost 20 times larger than rooms in KCL’s Stamford Street Apartments. This figure alone is considerably more than the annual base salaries of King’s receptionists, IT staff, security staff, lab technicians, admissions officers and senior timetabling officers.
Another investigation by Roar revealed KCL spent £7,850.91 on his return flight alone for a two-day trip to Phoenix as part of King’s partnership with the PluS Alliance.
Over the first two years of his tenure, his seven international trips all cost above £2,000 and totalled over £50,000. The Vice-Chancellor cost the university approximately £440,000 over the course of last year.
Earlier this year, Professor Kapur argued that tuition fees in England must rise to £12,500 for universities to break even.
Many higher education providers have asserted that they cannot afford to increase staff wages due to pressing financial constraints, despite these pay increases for their highest-ranking employees.
In October last year, following a series of strike actions, the University and Colleges Union (UCU) agreed a deal for full pension contribution restoration. The agreement involved a nationwide one-off payment of £900mn as recompense for lost money between April 2022 and 2024, KCL staff were included in this package.
KCL denied to comment on the details included in this article.
