PM vows to curb top public salaries

Dec 7 2009

Gordon Brown has pledged to curb a "culture of excess" in senior public sector pay and bonuses as he detailed plans to cut another £3 billion from the cost of running Government.

The Prime Minister said many salaries above £150,000 and £50,000-plus bonuses would in future require ministerial approval as part of an efficiency drive.

Top earners would also be publicly identified and bodies that wasted public cash "named and shamed", he said, warning that some had "lost touch" with reality.

Mr Brown said he hoped to shave 20% from the senior civil service pay bill over the next three years as the Government bids to cut the spiralling deficit.

Wednesday's Pre-Budget Report is expected to confirm it will top £175 billion this year, the combined effect of a costly fiscal stimulus and plummeting tax receipts. Other savings planned include getting more services online, which could cut £600 million from telephone and paperwork costs, and a 50% reduction in consultancy fees and 25% in marketing.

The PM said: "Of course public service is admirable and important and it deserves fair reward and we must never forget that our priority is excellence at the front line. In the wider public sector, some senior pay and perks packages have lost sight of this goal and lost touch with the reality of people's lives.

"Money which should be spent on health, on schools, on policing and on social services is, in some cases, going on excessive salaries and unjustified bonuses, far beyond the expectation of the majority of workers. This culture of excess must change and will change."

It was unacceptable that 300 local council officials were paid more than £150,000 and more than 300 across the public sector got £200,000 or more, he said.

"For £100 million you could have four new secondary schools or 10 new GP-run health centres every year. Or that £100 million could pay the salaries of 3,000 nurses or 2,000 servants for a year," Mr Brown said - announcing a full pay review in time for next year's Budget

"For future civil service appointments and other managerial appointments to public sector bodies which are subject to ministerial approval, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury will approve, in advance of recruitment, all salaries above £150,000 and any bonuses above £50,000. And where senior managerial appointments are not directly under Government control we will expect the organisations in question to justify to the relevant secretaries of state and to the public any salaries above this level."