Government moves to limit public sector pay rises to 1%

PUBLIC SECTOR PAY

Government moves to limit public sector pay rises to 1%

The government has announced that it will cap all public sector pay settlements at 1% for the two years from 2011. Alistair Darling said in his pre-budget report on 9 December 2009 that the cap would apply to deals agreed in 2011-12 and 2012-13.

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The chancellor of the exchequer also announced that the senior civil service will “take the lead” and faces cuts in its pay bill of £100 million over three years. Darling also outlined measures to publish the details of the remuneration of the highest paid public servants and said that any new government appointment paid more than £150,000 and all bonuses over £50,000 will “require explicit approval by the Treasury”.



DOCUMENT EXTRACT

Public sector pay

PBR 2009 announces:

Government will be seeking a 1% cap on basic pay uplifts across the public sector for 2011-12 and 2012-13, generating savings to departments of £3.4 billion by 2012-13. This builds on an announcement in October that government will seek awards up to 1% in 2010-11 for key public sector workforces not in multi-year deals.

For senior staff, a set of fundamental reforms to pay-setting:

  • new scrutiny of pay levels above £150,000 and bonuses above £50,000

  • new requirements to publish salaries to increase transparency and accountability

  • the prime minister will ask Bill Cockburn as Chair of the Senior Salaries Review Body to lead a review of senior pay across the public sector, reporting by Budget 2010.

This builds on Government proposals in October for a pay freeze in 2010-11 for senior groups including chief executives of NDPBs, senior civil servants, judges, senior NHS managers, consultant doctors and GPs.

--> Pre-Budget report, Alistair Darling, chancellor of the exchequer, 9 December 2009.
Source:
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/prebud_pbr09_press01.htm.