Professor Michael Farthing (pictured) was handed the golden payout by the University of Sussex ‘in lieu of notice’ after leaving his post in August 2016
A former university vice-chancellor was given £230,000 for his last month in the job after stepping down amid protests over outsourcing staff.
Professor Michael Farthing was handed the golden payout by the University of Sussex ‘in lieu of notice’ after leaving his post in August 2016.
According to the university’s accounts Professor Farthing was given £252,000 for the year starting August 2016 to August 2017.
But the former boss only worked for the first month of that period, according to the records published by the Times Higher Education (THE).
The accounts say: ‘Within the £249,000 paid to Professor M. J. G. Farthing in the year to 31 July 2017 is an amount of £230,000 paid in lieu of notice (2016: nil). This was sourced from non-HEFCE funds.’ He was also handed £3,000 in pension contributions
A Sussex spokesman insisted they have been ‘open and transparent’ about Professor Farthing’s earnings.
They told MailOnline: ‘The university’s approach to senior staff remuneration continues to be open and transparent, and we take our governance responsibilities and sector compliance requirements very seriously.
‘In the case of our former vice-chancellor, we met our contractual obligations to him and this has been clearly published in our annual financial accounts.’
According to the university’s accounts Professor Farthing was given £252,000 for the year starting August 2016 to August 2017. But the former boss only worked for the first month of that period, according to the records published by the Times Higher Education (THE). Pictured: The University of Sussex campus
Bath University vice-chancellor Dame Glynis Breakwell announced last week that she would step down in February 2019 – after a six-month ‘sabbatical’ on full pay
The university said they were not commenting further at this stage.
His successor, Professor Adam Tickell, was paid £267,000 for the period of September 2016 to July this year, plus £17,000 relocation costs and £9,000 in pension contributions.
The severance payment of £800,000 to Christina Slade (pictured) by Bath Spa University is thought to be the highest made to any UK vice-chancellor
The revelation about Professor Farthing comes amid an ongoing scandal about senior university staff pay, triggered by Bath handing out £468,000 a year to their vice chancellor Dame Glynis Bleakwell.
She has now announced she will step down in February 2019 but will receive a hefty payout while she is on a six-month sabbatical.
It was yesterday reported former VP of Bath Spa University Professor Christina Slade was paid £429,000 for her ‘loss of office’ as well as her £250,000 annual salary, £89,000 in pension contributions and £20,000 for housing and ‘other’ benefits respectively.
A spokeswoman for Bath Spa University said that after taking legal advice, the institution had given Prof Slade a sum that ‘reflected her contractual and statutory entitlements and was considered to represent value for money’.
Before he quit the job, Professor Farthing received widespread criticism for taking the decision to outsource hundreds of staff.
He also presided over the decision to suspend five students who protested against the changes.
They proceedings against the ‘Sussex Five’ collapsed at the start of 2014 and the university offered them compensation after an investigation by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator.