FDA warns against 'simplistic approach' to Whitehall reform - 15 May 2006

The FDA reacted with anger at the Government's decision to stage pay rises for senior civil servants.

FDA general secretary Jonathan Baume said:
"There will be real anger at the Government's decision to stage a review body pay award for the first time since 1997, particularly when the award itself is significantly lower than is required to tackle the growing gap between the pay of senior civil servants and other managers and professionals in the wider public sector. The Government itself identified this gap in its own evidence to the review body and described it as "unfair, unsustainable and open to legal challenge". By staging the award, it will in practice reduce the total amount of the reward package for key leaders of public sector reform.

"The decision to stage the award undermines the creditability of the independent Senior Salaries Review Body which has spent months examining the issues relevant to this year's pay award. This is an ominous return to a pay policy seen all too often under the previous Conservative government."

Notes for Editors
1. The 28th Report on Senior Salaries 2006 states that: "In our twenty-seventh report [published 2005] we drew attention to what we saw as the inconsistency between the Government's stated commitment to a strategic and sustainable market-facing approach to SCS pay, and the funding that it is prepared to make available in the short term. Our concerns have increased this year [2006] and it seems to us that there are serious problems with the SCS pay system, most notably the slow rate of progression for those performing satisfactorily, the continued development of a two-tier system where recruits from outside are paid substantially more than those who have progressed from within the civil service, and the risk of equal pay claims because of the reducing correlation between pay and job weight. At the same time, the evidence from the Hay Group's research shows the pay gap between the SCS and the private and wider public sectors increasing markedly for pay band 2 and above." Their full report can be found at: www.ome.uk.com
2. The FDA is the trade union and professional body representing 16,000 of the UK's senior civil and public servants. Our members include policy advisors, senior managers, tax inspectors, economists, statisticians, accountants, special advisers, government lawyers, diplomats, crown prosecutors and NHS managers.
3. The FDA (formerly First Division Association) should be referred to simply as "The FDA" and can be described as "the senior public servants' union".
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