Former University of Oxford vice-chancellor Dame Louise Richardson left the institution with an award of £423,407 – the equivalent of a year’s pay – on top of her usual salary, newly published accounts reveal.
Oxford’s financial statements show that the institution spent more than £1 million employing Dame Louise and her successor, Irene Tracey, during 2022-23.
Dame Louise, whose annual salary was set at £422,000, was paid £176,000 for the five months she was in office between August 2022 and the end of that year. Along with other members of the senior leadership team, she also received a bonus “in recognition of exceptional leadership during the pandemic” worth, in Dame Louise’s case, an extra £23,000.
Other benefits and pension costs took her remuneration to £289,000, but by far the biggest outlay was the £423,407 payment in lieu of an entitlement to take a sabbatical. This meant Dame Louise’s total remuneration stood at £712,000.
