The vice-chancellor of the University of Sheffield received a bonus that increased his pay and pension package by almost 6 per cent to £311,000 last year, as the institution prepared to cut pensions for its lowest-paid staff.

Keith Burnett's 2010-11 award was condemned as "morally irresponsible" by the university's Unison branch, although his total package is still below the Russell Group average.

The rise came in a year when Professor Burnett, in his former role as chair of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, negotiated a 0.4 per cent national pay rise that applied to the majority of the UK's higher education staff.

During 2010-11, Sheffield proposed closing its defined-benefit pension scheme for support staff and switching those on the lowest pay grades to a "cash-balance" scheme. It implemented the plans on 1 December amid continuing opposition from the Unison and Unite unions, which have mounted strikes against the changes.

51³Ô¹Ï

The deficit in Sheffield's support staff pension scheme was £52.8 million at 31 July 2011, compared with £58.3 million a year earlier.

Unions say Sheffield's move - which closes the defined-benefit scheme to current as well as future staff - will halve the previous typical £7,500 annual pension for support staff earning £15,000 a year.

51³Ô¹Ï

Professor Burnett's total package (up 5.8 per cent from £294,000 in 2009-10) comprised £267,000 salary, £4,000 of benefits in kind and £40,000 in employer pension contributions, Sheffield's recently published accounts reveal.

A Sheffield spokesman said that Professor Burnett "is a leading vice-chancellor" and his total remuneration package is in the "mid range" compared with his peers at comparable universities. He added that the 5.8 per cent increase was a result of "a non-consolidated performance bonus payment" in 2010-11.

51³Ô¹Ï revealed last month that the vice-chancellors at the 18 of 20 Russell Group universities to have published their accounts by 12 January received an average pay, benefits and pension package of nearly £318,000. The average increase for Russell Group vice-chancellors was 0.4 per cent.

Cardiff University is the only Russell Group institution yet to publish its accounts online.

51³Ô¹Ï

Under the Sheffield pension changes, unions say, workers on the higher support staff pay grades were allowed to join the defined-benefit Universities Superannuation Scheme designed for academics, while those on the lowest grades were not.

Stuart Anderson, Unison branch secretary at Sheffield, said that for Professor Burnett to receive a pay rise "taking his total remuneration to...more than 20 times the pay of the lowest-paid worker, in the same year that the university effectively tore up many people's retirement plans, is obscene".

john.morgan@tsleducation.com.