Brown ''has insulted public servants''

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The pay freeze for senior civil servants, GPs, judges and senior NHS managers confirmed by Gordon Brown has been dubbed by the FDA as an insult to hard-working public servants.

Just a week after MPs were awarded a 1.5 per cent pay rise, the Senior Salaries Review Body said there was "no justification for general pay increases". However, it did suggest a 2.25 per cent increase for NHS managers earning under £80,000 and raising the minimum pay for senior civil servants to £61,500 but the government refused.

Brown said he was looking to save £3bn by 2013/14. "Part of our tough approach to spending will be our tough approach to pay in the public sector," he said. "So today I can say that after the reports of the review bodies we will also freeze the salaries of senior staff in the civil service, senior staff in the military, the judiciary, senior managers in the health service and the pay of consultants, GPs and dentists."

A Cabinet Office spokesman added: "Given the economic challenges we face, civil servants have important roles to play in ensuring there is financial stability and excellent public services. While the contribution of the Civil Service is highly valued, against the backdrop of the challenges facing all sectors of the economy it is right that senior staff should show leadership in pay restraint."

But Jonathan Baume, FDA general secretary, said: "We recognise the grave fiscal crisis facing the country as public expenditure has spiralled out of control. However, the senior civil service comprises dedicated senior public servants whose professionalism and dedication will be essential to lifting Britain out of the economic quagmire over the coming years. It is simply untenable for the government to continue freezing the pay of senior civil servants as a political device year after year."

Baume added: "The government has insulted hard working public servants today by rejecting proposals from the independent Senior Salaries Review Body to raise the minimum pay for senior civil servants to address long-standing anomalies. This is a mean-spirited gesture."

And he warned that the government's failure to address long-standing equal pay concerns left the FDA with "no option but to seek alternative means of addressing these".

However, the Institute of Directors didn't think the pay freeze went far enough. Its director of policy and chief economist Graeme Leach said: "With public finances in such a poor state we welcome steps to restrain wage costs in the public sector. However, if the government is serious about tackling the deficit it needs to freeze pay across the whole of the public sector with the exclusion of the armed services, not just the wages of senior Whitehall officials and various public appointees. We calculate a one year freeze would generate annual savings of at least £6b. This is the kind of measure the government needs to introduce if it wants to demonstrate the existence of a credible plan to tackle the deficit. Trimming the pay of senior officials is not enough."