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UCAS as a charity

Given that UCAS is both a charity and a limited company and the outcry whenever high pay to charity CEOs is made public (eg http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/thirty-charity-bosses-paid-more-than-100000-a-year-8747591.html ) do you feel justified in the salary you are paid?

Also how does UCAS Media fit in with the charitable aims of UCAS? "delivering admissions services that help applicants make the right choices, for the right reasons and with the right outcomes." must be difficult to manage if part of your income is generated through promoting some universities over others?

Reply 1

Mary Curnock Cook

Hot topic! My salary is set by the Board of UCAS through the Remuneration Committee. I'm not defensive about it and the article relates mostly to charities that fundraise and are part of the Disasters Emergency Committee.

UCAS is a charity but we do not fund raise and we're not funded by government. We cover our costs through application fees, university fees and commercial sales. All profits from the commercial arm (of which I am also Managing Director) are gift-aided back to the Charity and help us fund improvements to our services without passing the cost onto applicants.

Trustees of the Charity are also on the Board of the commercial company so our sales activities are transparent. We operate strict guidelines to ensure that our commercial business doesn't impinge on the integrity of the admissions service.

Hope this helps.

Mary