07.01.16
Ministers consider higher pay bands for new Civil Service roles
Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock is reportedly developing plans to introduce higher pay bands in the Civil Service for project manager jobs spanning finance and IT, designed to run major Whitehall contracts.
The plan, originally floated by Civil Service chief John Manzoni last year, could raise the highest pay at the highest levels to £300,000 – significantly higher than the £200,000 ceiling for senior officials. The head of the Civil Service, Sir Jeremy Heywood, gets £195,000 a year.
Civil Service posts with pay grades above £145,000 a year must be approved by the Treasury, but it is unclear whether the new posts will fall under the same regulations. More details are expected during the spring, in the new financial year.
Hancock’s plans are designed to attract a wider base of specialist commercial skills to push forward with major projects that are often outsourced to contractors instead – especially in light of the current public sector 1% pay freeze.
As well as the enhanced pay, the roles would come with bespoke terms and conditions, yet to be decided – including the potential to receive Civil Service pension entitlements.
Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said most people will be “instinctively concerned about the recruitment of extra staff on new higher salary bands”.
“Ministers must be mindful of the need to keep a lid on unjustifiable large pay packages,” he said.
But a Cabinet Office spokesman said developing commercial, digital and other specialist capability is a key priority for the Civil Service, “to ensure that we attract and retain talented specialists”.
“We are developing proposals to build clear career paths, high quality learning and development products, and reward packages that allows the civil service to improve specialist capability and therefore the delivery of public services,” he added.
The proposals also come at the right time given yesterday’s scathing National Audit Office report claiming one-third of major public sector projects due for delivery in the next five years may be completely unachievable.
The auditor slammed central government and its departments for consistent project failures as a result of poor portfolio management, no data consistency, weak early planning, lack of accountability and a lack of capacity to undertake more projects.
(Top image: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire)