In 2016, former education minister Lord Adonis called for an inquiry in the House of Lords as he criticised the "serious controversy" of salary increases awarded to Breakwell as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bath. A pay rise of 11%, well above the 1.1% cap on pay for non-managerial staff across the higher education sector, took her yearly earnings to £451,000. "Put all that together, and Glynis Breakwell is paid almost exactly half a million pounds, more than three times the prime minister’s salary" said Lord Adonis. It was also reported around the same time by a freedom of information request submitted by Bath councillor Joe Rayment that Breakwell claimed an extra £20,000 in domestic expenses despite living in a grace-and-favour property owned by the university. In protest against Breakwell's pay package, four MPs resigned from the university court for the University of Bath: Darren Jones, Kerry McCarthy, David Drew, and Andrew Murrison. Critics speculated that the controversy surrounding Breakwell's salary had led to a decline in applications; the university suffered an 18.5% drop in applications from non-EU applicants for 2018 entry, and an overall 6% drop against an 11.5% jump in applications for Bath's six closest competitors. A freedom of information request by the Bath Chronicle revealed Breakwell secured a further 3.9% pay rise in the 2016-17 academic year, raising her total wages and benefits to more than £468,000. This led Adonis to refer to her pay rise – awarded whilst she herself was a member of the remuneration committee – as a "disgrace" and to call for her to resign. In response Breakwell issued a statement saying "The university is committed to the highest standards of governance and treats very seriously any complaint made." Addressing the issue of her salary in a 2015 interview, Breakwell stated: "I’m worth it...I’ve been in the job a long time and you do tend to get increases over time in most jobs. Frankly, I don’t think that there is anything I could say that would stop people saying that I earn too much and vice-chancellors earn too much, so I cannot engage in a conversation because I don’t think there is a way through."
Response
On 28 November 2017 Breakwell announced that she would step down as vice-chancellor on 31 August 2018, at the end of the 2017-18 academic year, and take a fully paid sabbatical semester before formally retiring on 28 February 2019. As part of the terms of her resignation, the university will write off the interest-free loan for her £31,000 car which she can keep. Andrew Adonis called the terms of her resignation "outrageous" and that she was the worst case of "fat-cat pay", saying the sabbatical meant that she would be paid £700,000 to go. A joint statement from trade unions representing staff at the University of Bath urged for Breakwell's resignation to be effective immediately, citing concerns over Breakwell continuing to exercise authority which generated a "climate of fear" on campus. On 16 January 2018, the university court voted in favour for the immediate dismissal of Breakwell.
