Civil service pay freeze: the cracks are beginning to show
|
Version 0 of 1. It may feel as if this government, and a number of its predecessors, see the market as the solution to all public sector ills – real or imagined. However, in one part of the Whitehall forest the phrase “market comparability” is second only to “spin-free press release” in the list of unlikely phrases to be heard. In that part of the forest is the unkempt and unloved world of civil service pay and reward. Many people, including most politicians, aren’t worried about the state of the civil service. It serves as a useful whipping boy for political failures, while routinely delivering the government’s policy intentions. The prevailing political view is that there aren’t any votes in increasing public sector pay. Frankly, given there are five million tax-paying eligible voters working in the public sector – with many more reliant on a public sector wage – this seems rather short-sighted. Moreover, an underpaid and unmotivated civil service simply will not deliver high-quality public services. The voices of concern are getting louder. The senior public servants’ union the FDA; the National Audit Office; Bernard Jenkin’s public administration select committee; the chief executive of the civil service John Manzoni; cross-party Whitehall reform thinktank GovernUp and the senior salaries review body (SSRB) have all raised issues with the current approach to civil service pay and how it makes Whitehall uncompetitive and disadvantaged. Quietly, the government knows this. Its own evidence to the SSRB [pdf] this year was explicit: “There remains some concern about our ability to recruit key staff of the right calibre due to uncompetitive reward packages and that we may not be able to hold on to talented people as the economy improves”. For a formal government submission, that is strong stuff. Related: Bring pay for senior civil servants in line with the private sector Survey after survey of professionals in the civil service reveal that stagnant pay, followed by five years of cuts, has resulted in a loss of about 25% of the value of their remuneration package, leading to a demoralised workforce with a massive workload. Will this lead to amazing efficiencies or, more likely, is the public missing out on the productivity and creativity of a motivated and skilled workforce? Only the public sector seeks to recruit and retain highly marketable skills with bargain basement pay. The private sector realises that’s a fool’s errand. Increasingly the cracks are beginning to show: HMRC can’t recruit the tax expertise it needs by offering standard civil service salaries; the Ministry of Defence can’t recruit the necessary scientific expertise without seeking additional funds for pay. A simple commitment an incoming government could give is for a review of civil service pay that engages civil servants and is genuinely open to the idea of reforming pay – the framework for setting, reviewing and progressing pay in order to motivate, recruit and retain a world-class civil service. But there is reticence from all political parties to make this commitment. Sign up for your free weekly Guardian Public Leaders newsletter with news and analysis sent direct to you every Thursday. Follow us on Twitter via @Guardianpublic |