Public sector executives face performance reviewed pay

A so-called Fair Pay Review also called for greater public scrutiny of executive pay in the public sector and recommended that a workers’ representative should sit on remuneration committees.

But the review, led by Will Hutton, ruled out having a fixed limit of senior staff earning no more than 20 times the lowest paid workers’ earnings because it would be unworkable and affect only a small number of employees.

The report suggested instead that public bodies should publish a report every year on how much chief executives earned in relation to the median pay of a workforce.

Mr Hutton said all public sector executives should place an element of their pay, at least 10 per cent, “at risk”, to be earned back each year if they achieved pre-arranged objectives.

The scheme would be the first of its type in the world, affecting around 2,000 senior staff but could spread to tens of thousands of middle managers on a voluntary basis.

Senior staff would not be eligible for a bonus unless they received the part of their pay which had been held back, the report suggested.

The “earn back” pay system could be in place within four years and would take some of the heat out of the debate about executive pay, said Mr Hutton, who is head of the Work Foundation.

Around 9,000 executives among the near 6 million public sector employees earned more than the prime minister’s salary of £142,500 and their pay had been rising faster than low-earners, although not as much as in private firms, said the report.

Executives in private firms are consistently paid more than their public sector counterparts. The permanent secretary at the Home Office earns up to £197,000, managing a turnover of £10bn, while an equivalent position in the private sector would pay £2.5m, it was found.

Studies had found that council chief executives were paid just 51 per cent of the salary of comparable jobs in private companies.

But Mr Hutton said public sector managers had been caught up in the backlash to the “remarkable” growth in earnings for executives over the past decade.

“The public has the right to know that pay is deserved, fair, under control and designed to drive improving public sector performance, and that there are no rewards for failure,” said Mr Hutton.

Other recommendations included annual fair pay reports on trends in pay multiples across public services and a fair pay code.

Chancellor George Osborne said: “The government is committed to striking a balance between value for money for taxpayers and fair pay for public sector workers. We will give careful consideration to his recommendations and respond in detail in due course.”