UNITED KINGDOM
United Kingdom Public Service unions have attacked the Government’s latest Senior Civil Service (SCS) pay submission that seeks continuing tight controls together with a call for future increases to be more performance related.
Pay restraint and an emphasis on performance-related pay awards are the central themes in the evidence the Cabinet Office submitted to the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB), which makes recommendations on SCS pay.
The 112-page document recommended the SSRB take a similar approach to 2019-20, when the total pay award came to two per cent.
Unions have objected strongly to the recommendations, and in particular to comments made in the foreword to the guidance by Minster for the Cabinet Office, Lord Agnew (pictured) who said the pay structure should focus on “rewarding those who build their professional and leadership capability and get things done”.
Lord Agnew also said the Public Service would “need to be more ambitious and go further than ever before” to boost diversity, develop professional frameworks and “tackle unnecessary Departmental turnover”.
Assistant General Secretary of the FDA union for senior Public Servants, Lucille Thirlby said Lord Agnew’s tone was concerning.
“Rather than tackling the fundamental issue of a broken pay system, he works from the premise that the Civil Service doesn’t have the right skills, mentality and values to deliver the Government’s priorities,” Ms Thirlby said.
“Ministers need to stop espousing reform for reform’s sake, and recognise that transformative Government is delivered through policy, not reorganisation.”
Ms Thirlby said the submission was made even more galling by the fact that it came on the same day as it was announced MPs’ pay would increase by 3.1 per cent.
London, 9 March 2020
