Public-sector redundancy payoffs to be capped under Tories' enterprise bill
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Version 0 of 1. Public sector workers in the NHS, BBC and civil service will be banned from getting six-figure redundancy packages under a law to be brought forward in the Queen’s speech next week. The proposal to outlaw large “golden parachutes” for public sector workers was a manifesto pledge made by the Conservatives, following repeated cases of senior officials getting payoffs in the hundreds of thousands of pounds. Some of the highest packages in recent years include ones worth more than £450,000 in the civil service, £500,000 in the NHS and more than £1m in the BBC. The new rules will be written into the enterprise bill, which is also going to be the vehicle for a roll-back of company regulation by the business secretary, Sajid Javid. The exact level at which payouts will be capped has not been decided but it is likely to be about £95,000. Approximately 1,800 public-sector employees received payouts of more than £100,000 in 2013. The government has already introduced measures to claw back big payouts from those who subsequently return to jobs in the public sector. George Osborne, the chancellor, said it was “not right that working people should have to fork out for golden parachutes worth hundreds of thousands of pounds for public-sector workers when they are made redundant”. “That’s why we are delivering on our pledge to end six-figure payoffs for the best-paid public-sector workers, ensuring fairness and value for money for the taxpayer,” he said. When the plan was first announced this year, Labour said the move was too little, too late – as many huge payouts to NHS executives had already been made during the government’s reorganisation of the health service. Jamie Reed, a shadow health minister, said: “David Cameron can’t get away from the fact that this horse has already bolted. He wasted £1.6bn on redundancy payouts to NHS managers as part of his reckless reorganisation. “Frontline NHS staff found it galling that 4,000 managers who received payoffs are now back in NHS jobs. The government wasted billions on its reorganisation while patients are waiting hours on end in A&E and longer for cancer treatment too – proof you can’t trust the Tories with the NHS.” |