Public sector news

Darling announces pay freeze

7/10/2009
Senior civil servants have been told that their salaries will be frozen and pay deals no longer honoured.

Chancellor Alistair Darling has announced that the three-year pay deal for the senior civil service, not due to expire until 2011, will be scrapped before then. He also said there should be no pay rise for judges, senior NHS managers or GPs. The three-year pay deals for non-civil servants will be respected, but the government wants sectors without an agreement to take a rise in line with the private sector, from 0% to 1%. The armed forces are not included in the plans.

Unions representing senior civil servants and public sector managers have been highly critical of the chancellor's move. General secretary Jonathan Baume told Sky News: "It will be these senior managers in the NHS, these senior civil servants, who will be charged over the next 18 months to two years with taking forward the government's very difficult programme of austerity across the public services, and managing change if a different government is elected next May."

This is a very poor signal to them given the work and motivation that is going to be required in this very difficult economic circumstance."