Exclusive:Edinburgh University principal handed 'near £20,000 pay rise' while slashing budgets

The principal of the University of Edinburgh has been handed a five-figure pay rise while overseeing huge cuts across the institution, The Scotsman can reveal.

Sir Peter Mathieson told staff this summer the university would be “reducing our spending in all areas” in response to the “severity” of the financial pressures in the higher education sector.

But it has now emerged the university’s principal was being awarded a 5 per cent salary increase at the same time.

Sir Peter was already the highest paid vice chancellor in Scotland, earning a basic pay in 2023 of £348,000, and a total package worth £418,000.

The university would not comment on the value of the pay rise, but a 5 per cent increase on his basic pay from the previous year would represent £17,400, while his pension supplement would also increase, taking the total uplift to around £20,000.

The 5 per cent increase follows a 3 per cent rise in the previous year, although Sir Peter refused any extra pay in 2019, 2020 and 2022.

Edinburgh University said it was the same 5 per cent pay increase that was awarded to all staff last year.

Queen Elizabeth II, with Edinburgh University principal and vice-chancellor Sir Peter Mathieson (right), during a visit to the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute in 2021 | PA

The principal has also recently been in the headlines for having the cost of his Regent Terrace home and utility bills covered by the university, and for regularly staying in five-star hotels while on overseas trips.

Sophia Woodman, president of the UCU union branch at Edinburgh, said: “To be honest, I think most staff members will be horrified. Does Mathieson have to deal with the cost-of-living crisis when he has a salary over £400,000, a free house, free utilities?

“I think it is just really out of proportion to think that he requires the same pay rise as people who have had their salaries declining in real terms for more than 15 years.

“And I think people will be particularly horrified at this moment, given that the university imposed a 2.5 per cent across the board budget cut on all aspects of the university this summer, when people had already made their plans for the academic year - it is creating real difficulties for many of my colleagues, increasing already chronic levels of over-work.

“There is kind of a disconnect here over what is good for him and what staff at this institution are being subjected to.”

Sir Peter has faced a turbulent period in charge since joining from the University of Hong Kong in 2018.

He has overseen the institution as it responded to the Covid pandemic, as well as protests over the screening of the Adult Human Female film about transgender rights, criticism of the university’s handling of a marking and assessment boycott by staff as part of industrial action over pay, and the establishment of a pro-Palestine encampment by hunger-striking students earlier this year.

The principal has also come under fire over the botched roll-out of the “People and Money” IT system for HR, payroll and finance, which meant thousands of invoices issued to the university were left outstanding.

Pay rises for the principal are decided by the university’s remuneration committee each January. It has now emerged that a 5 per cent pay rise was “discussed and approved” by four members of the committee at the meeting this year.

A minute said: “It was recognised that despite challenges, particularly to do with People & Money roll-out, there were positive outcomes against the majority of objectives and that any decision about salary had to be taken on all evidence, not on just any single element.”

Sir Peter wrote to all staff this summer announcing plans to cut spending and implement “significant constraint” on recruitment due to the “severity of the financial challenge” in the higher education sector.

He said Edinburgh was “not immune” to the pressures, but was taking action to to “ensure we remain financially resilient”, including by “reducing our spending in all areas”.

Last year, Sir Peter’s total remuneration package of £418,000 was the highest of any university principal in Scotland.

Sir Jim McDonald at Strathclyde University was paid £401,000, slightly more than Glasgow University boss Sir Anton Muscatelli’s total remuneration of £399,000. Stirling University's principal Sir Gerry McCormac received £396,000, and Dame Sally Mapstone at St Andrews University was given £378,000.

The Scotsman revealed in February how Sir Gerry’s total package at Stirling soared by £76,000 last year.

A University of Edinburgh spokesperson said: “Salary increases for the university’s senior leadership team are awarded in arrears, and are discussed and approved in the January remuneration committee following the year in which the rest of our staff receive their increase.

“In this case, the 5 per cent relates to the 2022/23 academic year and is the same 5 per cent UCEA [Universities and Colleges Employers' Association] pay increase that was awarded to all staff and paid in two instalments in 2023, with the final increase in August 2023.

“The 2.5 per cent UCEA pay increase that was announced this year will be reviewed at remuneration committee in January 2025, which is when the principal’s pay increase would be decided.”

Janet Legrand OBE KC (Hon), senior lay member of the university court, said: “The principal’s remuneration is determined by the remuneration committee, a committee of the university’s governing body, the university court.

“The principal is not a member of this committee and is not present when discussions and decisions on his remuneration take place.

“The remuneration committee works within a framework and proposed approach agreed by the university court as a whole, and its decision-making is also informed by the outcome of an annual review meeting I hold with the principal.”