Sponsored by
Inquiry call into 'fat cat' public sector salaries
A Top Pay Commission should be set up to investigate "fat cat" salaries in the public sector and name and shame organisations that pay too much to senior officials, a committee of MPs said today.
The House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee said that a growing gulf between the salaries of council and quango chiefs and the average earnings of their staff was not "sustainable or desirable" in a time of recession.
In a report published today, it recommended the publication of the pay of all public servants earning more than about 100,000.
But the committee dismissed calls to cap public sector pay at the 198,000 level of the Prime Minister's salary as "little more than a political stunt" which would be unlikely to deliver better value for money to the taxpayer.
Any highly paid public servants who fail to perform effectively "should face the very real prospect of losing their jobs without any kind of generous pay-off", said the report.
But the MPs said it would be "particularly damaging" if talented managers left the public sector because of pay reductions that were modest in comparison with the savings they were able to deliver for the taxpayer.
The MPs blamed soaring senior salaries in public bodies in part on "contagion" from the private sector, where massive rises for top executives have become the norm over the past decade.
And they warned that measures to rein in public servants' pay will be effective only if they were matched by similar restraint in the private sector.
Communities Secretary John Denham last week tabled new regulations to require local authorities and other public bodies to reveal the names and salaries of an estimated 300 top staff earning more than 150,000. The Tories have said they would give the Chancellor of the Exchequer a veto over any public sector appointment with a salary higher than the PM's.
The moves came amid widespread concern about the generous pay rises that town hall chiefs have secured for themselves while lower earners have endured much tighter settlements.
Today's report said that the creation of a Top Pay Commission would ensure greater coherence to the setting of senior salaries across the public sector.
The Commission could produce principles and benchmarks to guide pay-setters and launch investigations where they were breached.Committee chairman Tony Wright said: "Set against the stratospheric pay increases seen at the top of the private sector over the last 10 years, the public sector has got excellent value from many of its top people.
"However, we do not believe that the ever-growing gulf between average earnings and top pay is sustainable or desirable."
Email to a friend
Print this page- Leeds lose Ward to Palace: Is there anyone they can afford now?
- Sheffield Wednesday leaving it late to hijack Leeds United over Ward
- As Snodgrass dithers over Leeds, Warnock throws a lifeline
- Ball is in Leeds United’s court over contract - Snodgrass
- Police turning blind eye to Asian voter fraud, says MP
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
