Newcastle College principal gets 32% pay rise as 170 of her staff face potential redundancy

The principal's £259,772 pay packet for 2009/10 means she was higher paid than any other individual further education college principal in 2008/9 (the last year for which nationwide figures are available*).
 
Her huge salary was more than double the average further education college principal's pay of £119,482 in 2008/9. This year, teachers in further education colleges across England have been offered their lowest ever pay increase of 0.2% or £50, whichever is higher.
 
The north east college's annual accounts also show ten other senior members of staff earned over £100,000 in the academic year of 2009/10, compared to six the previous year.
 
Newcastle College has recently announced plans to axe 120 teaching jobs at its main college site. The college has presented the union with plans for over 170 redundancies, of which over three-quarters are teaching posts. The union has accused senior management of 'jumping the gun' and of using the current funding difficulties in further education as an excuse to make cuts.
 
UCU regional official Iain Owens said: 'It beggars belief how this college principal can justify a 32% pay rise in a climate where every public institution is tightening its belt, and she has just announced that one in ten of her own staff face potential redundancy, citing funding cuts as the reason.
 
'Staff have every right to be sceptical about the need for widespread job cuts when they learn of such gross disparity between those at the top and those at the bottom.'

Notes

*with the exception of Leeds City College, where the principal's pay was exceptionally large following the merger of three colleges
In 2008/09, the Principal and Chief Executive of Newcastle College earned £196,333 in salary and bonus and retention payments. In 2009/10, the equivalent figure was £259,772.

View Newcastle College accounts (pdf)