Golden goodbyes now tarnished

For some years many companies have imposed pay freezes, pay cuts or reduced hours on their staff to avoid the cost of redundancy and when they had no option but to let people go, business leaders in Yorkshire said they would be lucky to get a quarter of the cash offered to their public sector counterparts.

And, of course, as the region's chambers of commerce admitted ruefully, the big difference is that whatever pay-off a private company makes,

it's their own money,

not taxpayers'.

What is also worrying is the split in our public services as frontline staff, according to their union representatives, are feeling increasing alienation from their managers.

We hear that morale in the sector is at an all-time low with many of the region's authorities announcing major job cuts, but the situation is being exacerbated because those on the lowest salaries, rightly or wrongly, feel deeply hurt and believe they are taking more of the pain than their senior colleagues.

The pressure on these directors cannot be underestimated. They face extremely challenging times and many manage multi-million pound budgets in the face of deep and immediate imposed cuts, while trying to protect public services.

But their image – from both inside and outside town halls – is taking a hammering and the simmering discontent from within must be resolved before it boils over.

The Government has said six-figure pay-offs cannot be justified and it is time those leading our councils call a stop to the contracts that can see managers getting between one and four years' wages as a

golden goodbye.

And if the system fails to change, and if the Government is serious about its proclamation that "we are all in this together", then Ministers must move on from the rhetoric and actually introduce

legislation to cap pay deals.