Pay Ratio 2013

The request was successful.

Rustam Majainah

Dear Keele University,

Please could you send the following information as outlined in the Freedom of Information Act for the year ending 31 July 2013, or for the financial year in which 31 July 2013 falls. If information for that period is not yet available, please use the most recent information you have. Please specify what period this information refers to at the beginning of your answer.

1. i) The number of individuals employed by the university who receive total remuneration* of £140,000 pa or more.

ii) The number of these individuals who are women.

2. The total remuneration* of the highest paid employee.

3. i) The number of individuals directly employed by the university who are paid less than the Living Wage of £7.65 per hour [or £8.80 per hour within Greater London].

ii) The number of these individuals (paid less than Living Wage) who are women.

iii) If available, the number of individuals employed by outside contractors to provide services at your university who are paid less than the Living Wage of £7.65 per hour [or £8.80 per hour within Greater London].

iv) Whether your university has a policy to require on-site staff working for external contractors to be paid Living Wage rates as a minimum.

4. i) The number of employees paid at exactly the National Minimum Wage, including those employed by outside contractors to work at your university.

ii) The number of these individuals (paid at exactly National Minimum Wage) who are women.

5. i) The number of apprentices employed by your university.

ii) The lowest remuneration* received by apprentices employed by your university.

6. The ratio between the total remuneration* of the highest-paid employee and the total remuneration* of the lowest-paid employee.

7. The ratio between the total remuneration* of the highest-paid employee and the total remuneration* of the median-paid employee.

*[adapted from the government's definition of remuneration (for local authority chief officers) under section 43 of the Localism Act 2011] Remuneration meaning:
(a)salary or, in the case of an individual engaged under a contract for services, payments made by the university to the individual those services,
(b)any bonuses payable by the university to the individual,
(c)any charges, fees or allowances payable by the authority to the individual,
(d)any benefits in kind to which the individual is entitled as a result of their office or employment,
(e)any increase in or enhancement of the individual's pension entitlement where the increase or enhancement is as a result of a resolution of the university, and
(f)any amounts payable by the university to the individual on the individual ceasing to hold office under or be employed by the university, other than amounts that may be payable by virtue of any enactment.
(g) calculated as full-time equivalent

Yours faithfully,

Rustam Majainah

Freedom of Information Request [Keele], Keele University

Dear Rustam, 

 

Thank you for your email of 22nd July 2014 requesting information
regarding remuneration at Keele University.  I am writing to let you know
that we have received your request and will process it as soon as
possible, and in any case within 20 working days of the day we received
the request.  You will hear back from us by 21st July 2014 at the latest.

 

Yours sincerely,

Laura Barcroft

Governance Coordinator

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Freedom of Information

Governance Team
Directorate of Planning and Academic Administration
Tawney Building
Keele University
Keele
ST5 5BG

Email: [3][Keele University request email] 
Website: [4]www.keele.ac.uk/foi/

Tel: 01782 7 34633

P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

This email and its attachments are intended for the above named only and
may be confidential. If it has come to you in error you must not copy or
show it to anyone, nor should you take any action based on it, other than
to notify the sender of the error by replying to the sender. Keele
University staff and students must abide by the University's conditions of
use when sending email.   Keele University email is hosted by a
cloud-provider and may be stored outside of the UK.

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Freedom of Information Request [Keele], Keele University

1 Attachment

Dear Rustam,

 

Thank you for your email of 22^nd June 2014 requesting information
regarding  at Keele University. 

 

Where you asked:

 

1. i) The number of individuals employed by the university who receive
total remuneration* of £140,000 pa or more.

 

Answer: 1

ii) The number of these individuals who are women.

 

Answer: 0

2. The total remuneration* of the highest paid employee.

 

I can confirm that the Vice-Chancellor is the University’s highest paid
employee. Please see the University’s Statement of Accounts, available on
our website at: [1]http://www.keele.ac.uk/finance/accounts/

 

For your convenience, I can confirm that the information you require can
be found on page 25. The Statement of Accounts for 2013/14 will be
published following the end of the financial year and is likely to be
available in Autumn 2014.

3. i) The number of individuals directly employed by the university who
are paid less than the Living Wage of £7.65 per hour [or £8.80 per hour
within Greater London].

 

264 (includes contracted staff only - not including casuals), based on the
June 2014 payroll.

ii) The number of these individuals (paid less than Living Wage) who are
women.

 

Answer: 187
iii) If available, the number of individuals employed by outside
contractors to provide services at your university who are paid less than
the Living Wage of £7.65 per hour [or £8.80 per hour within Greater
London].

 

This information is not held by the University.

iv) Whether your university has a policy to require on-site staff working
for external contractors to be paid Living Wage rates as a minimum.

 

Information regarding the University’s procurement policies can be found
on our website at:
[2]http://www.keele.ac.uk/finance/procureme...

4. i) The number of employees paid at exactly the National Minimum Wage,
including those employed by outside contractors to work at your
university.

 

Answer: Less than 5, across the range of minimum wage rates. The exact
number is withheld under Section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act.

 

Please note that this data is for University staff only, the University
does not hold records regarding the payment of contractors.

ii) The number of these individuals (paid at exactly National Minimum
Wage) who are women.

 

Answer: Less than 5, the exact number is withheld under Section 40 of the
Freedom of Information Act.

5. i) The number of apprentices employed by your university.

 

Answer: Less than 5, the exact number is withheld under Section 40 of the
Freedom of Information Act.

ii) The lowest remuneration* received by apprentices employed by your
university.

 

Answer:  Meets National Minimum Wage for apprentices. The exact detail is
withheld under Section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act.

6. The ratio between the total remuneration* of the highest-paid employee
and the total remuneration* of the lowest-paid employee.

 

Answer: 20:1 (Based on the Full Time Equivalent (FTE) of the lowest paid
employee, not an apprentice)

7. The ratio between the total remuneration* of the highest-paid employee
and the total remuneration* of the median-paid employee.

 

Answer: 10:1

Section 40(2)- Personal Data

Information deemed to be personal data can not be disclosed by the
University to any person or organisation where it would breach one or more
of the Eight Data Protection Principles, as outlined in the Data
Protection Act 1998, and referenced under Section 40 of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. This is an absolute exemption.

 

The Information Commissioner cites that the salary information of public
authority employees whose salary exceeds £150,000 should be published. The
University complies with this requirement in its Annual Statement of
Accounts. The salaries of individuals paid less than this amount are
considered to be personal information, particularly in cases where the
information relates to a small number of employees, who could be easily
identifiable via data triangulation.

 

More information regarding the Freedom of Information Act and its
exemptions can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website
at: [3]http://ico.org.uk/

 

If you have any queries or if you are not satisfied with the response you
have received, please contact me in the first instance.  If you are
unhappy with the way your request for information has been handled, you
have the right to submit a complaint by following our Complaints
Procedures, a copy of which is attached.

 

Kind regards

Laura Harrison

Governance Support Officer

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Rustam Majainah

Dear Keele University,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Keele University's handling of my FOI request 'Pay Ratio 2013'.

Question 3 iv) asked "Whether your university has a policy to require on-site staff working for external contractors to be paid Living Wage rates as a minimum." The response received referred to a page that gave a 403 Forbidden response, meaning I could not find the information. Please could this be provided.

Question 5 ii) asked for "The lowest remuneration* received by apprentices employed by your university." This was refused with the following response: "Meets National Minimum Wage for apprentices. The exact detail is withheld under Section 40 of the Freedom of information Act."
Many other universities have disclosed this amount
(https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p...
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p...
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p...
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p... for example)
Please could you disclose this amount.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p...

Yours faithfully,

Rustam Majainah

Freedom of Information Request [Keele], Keele University

1 Attachment

Dear Rustam, 
Thank you for your email of 12th July 2014 requesting an Internal Review
regarding the response you received for your Freedom of Information
request. We will deal with your request in line with our University FOI
Complaints Procedure, a copy of which is attached and will be in touch
with an outcome shortly.

Yours sincerely,

Laura Barcroft

Governance Coordinator 

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Freedom of Information Request [Keele], Keele University

1 Attachment

Dear Rustam,

 

Thank you for your email of 12 July 2014 requesting an Internal Review of
the response provided by Keele University to your request under the
Freedom of Information Act. 

 

Your request related to pay ratios and was received on 22 June 2014, the
response was provided on 4^th July 2014.

 

Your request for an Internal Review was on the following grounds:

 

I am writing to request an internal review of Keele University's handling
of my FOI request 'Pay Ratio 2013'.

Question 3 iv) asked "Whether your university has a policy to require
on-site staff working for external contractors to be paid Living Wage
rates as a minimum." The response received referred to a page that gave a
403 Forbidden response, meaning I could not find the information. Please
could this be provided.

 

Please accept our apologies for difficulties accessing the information on
our website, the links appear to be working adequately now however, please
find attached the documents in question to avoid any further delays in
accessing the information.

 

I can confirm that these documents make reference to our ethical
procedures and policies although there is no specific reference to
required pay rates for contractors.

Question 5 ii) asked for "The lowest remuneration* received by apprentices
employed by your university." This was refused with the following
response: "Meets National Minimum Wage for apprentices. The exact detail
is withheld under Section 40 of the Freedom of information Act."
Many other universities have disclosed this amount

 

You requested an internal review on the basis that the response provided
by Keele, was inconsistent with the responses you received from some other
Universities. In support of your claim, you provided links to the other
responses via the ‘What Do They Know?’ website
([1]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/).

 

The University reviewed the information you provided and noted that our
response was inconsistent with responses you received from some other
Higher Education Institutions. Our foundation for withholding some data
under Section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act centred upon the low
number of individuals this information related to, causing concern
regarding possible triangulation of data which could result in the
identification of individuals.

 

Taking account of the information you provided in support of your request
for a review, specifically that a number of other responses returned low
numbers, we have concluded that the data is disclosable. The University
has also considered recent decisions of the Information Commissioner on
related matters and noted that salary information would be routinely
published in job advertisments.

 

As such please find a revised response to question (5ii) below.

 

ii) The lowest remuneration* received by apprentices employed by your
university.

 

Meets National Minimum Wage for apprentices, the rates for which can be
found via the HMRC website
[2]http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/payerti/payroll/p...

and on the Keele University Website
[3]http://www.keele.ac.uk/hr/salaryscales/.

 

The lowest remuneration received by apprentices would therefore be
£5051.80 per annum.

 

If you have any queries or if you are not satisfied with the response you
have received, please contact me in the first instance.  If you are
unhappy with the way your request for information has been handled, you
have the right to submit a complaint by following our Complaints
Procedures, a copy of which is attached.

 

Kind regards

Laura Harrison

Governance Support Officer

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Freedom of Information Request [Keele], Keele University

4 Attachments

Dear Rustam,

 

Thank you for your email of 12 July 2014 requesting an Internal Review of
the response provided by Keele University to your request under the
Freedom of Information Act. 

 

Your request related to pay ratios and was received on 22 June 2014, the
response was provided on 4^th July 2014.

 

Your request for an Internal Review was on the following grounds:

 

I am writing to request an internal review of Keele University's handling
of my FOI request 'Pay Ratio 2013'.

Question 3 iv) asked "Whether your university has a policy to require
on-site staff working for external contractors to be paid Living Wage
rates as a minimum." The response received referred to a page that gave a
403 Forbidden response, meaning I could not find the information. Please
could this be provided.

 

Please accept our apologies for difficulties accessing the information on
our website, the links appear to be working adequately now however, please
find attached the documents in question to avoid any further delays in
accessing the information.

 

I can confirm that these documents make reference to our ethical
procedures and policies although there is no specific reference to
required pay rates for contractors.

Question 5 ii) asked for "The lowest remuneration* received by apprentices
employed by your university." This was refused with the following
response: "Meets National Minimum Wage for apprentices. The exact detail
is withheld under Section 40 of the Freedom of information Act."
Many other universities have disclosed this amount

 

You requested an internal review on the basis that the response provided
by Keele, was inconsistent with the responses you received from some other
Universities. In support of your claim, you provided links to the other
responses via the ‘What Do They Know?’ website
([1]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/).

 

The University reviewed the information you provided and noted that our
response was inconsistent with responses you received from some other
Higher Education Institutions. Our foundation for withholding some data
under Section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act centred upon the low
number of individuals this information related to, causing concern
regarding possible triangulation of data which could result in the
identification of individuals.

 

Taking account of the information you provided in support of your request
for a review, specifically that a number of other responses returned low
numbers, we have concluded that the data is disclosable. The University
has also considered recent decisions of the Information Commissioner on
related matters and noted that salary information would be routinely
published in job advertisments.

 

As such please find a revised response to question (5ii) below.

 

ii) The lowest remuneration* received by apprentices employed by your
university.

 

Meets National Minimum Wage for apprentices, the rates for which can be
found via the HMRC website
[2]http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/payerti/payroll/p...

and on the Keele University Website
[3]http://www.keele.ac.uk/hr/salaryscales/.

 

The lowest remuneration received by apprentices would therefore be
£5051.80 per annum.

 

If you have any queries or if you are not satisfied with the response you
have received, please contact me in the first instance.  If you are
unhappy with the way your request for information has been handled, you
have the right to submit a complaint by following our Complaints
Procedures, a copy of which is attached.

 

Kind regards

Laura Harrison

Governance Support Officer

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