10 October 2003
John Prescott's blueprint to improve councils' working practices has put a question mark over the value of the long-awaited Local Government Pay Commission report on the sector.
The publication on the Employers' Organisation website on October 7 of the draft Pay and workforce strategy, drawn up jointly with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, caught parts of the sector by surprise – not least the ODPM itself.
'As far as we are concerned, the strategy has not been published,' a spokesman for the ODPM said on October 8.
The document reflects the department's determination to shake up local government – without committing itself to extra investment for pay – in the wake of public discontent at council tax hikes.
But unions were mystified at the timing, because many recommendations could clash with the findings of the Local Government Pay Commission, currently investigating the problems that fuelled last year's national strikes across councils.
The commission's report, due out later this month, is supposed to underpin councils' pay settlements from 2004. It is widely believed that chair Linda Dickens will uphold some union complaints about remuneration, training and conditions in the sector.
But in its document the government indicates it is unlikely that extra Whitehall cash would be made available to councils, which would make implementing the commission's recommendations difficult.
Unison's head of local government, Heather Wakefield, accused the government and employers of 'getting their policy in first'.
The ODPM has identified five key areas where local authorities and their partners must focus on improvement: developing leadership capacity; developing the organisation; developing the skills and capacity of the workforce; resourcing local government; and pay and rewards.
The content of the first two sections raised few eyebrows, reflecting current initiatives to improve management and performance targets. But three sections could overlap with the work of the commission.
The ODPM denied stealing the commission's thunder, claiming that its final strategy document 'could be changed as a consequence of the commission's findings'.
A spokesman for the commission confirmed that Dickens had seen a copy of the ODPM's strategy.
Despite criticising ministers for failing to commit more cash to problems, Wakefield backed some of the ODPM recommendations, including the insistence that councils should prevent lavish pay settlements for senior staff.
The document states: 'While occasionally paying a high salary may be required in order to fill particularly challenging posts, the government believes that local authorities need to take care to avoid the justifiable exception becoming the unjustifiable norm.'
The Unison spokeswoman said: 'That is the "fat cat" pay issue that has blighted some councils hitting home in the minds of ministers.'
The union also applauded ministers' support for a national pay bargaining structure, despite pressure from the Treasury and employers for regional flexibility. But Wakefield claimed that recommendation should be taken 'with a pinch of salt' on the back of 'creeping regionalism' already 'saturating' the sector.
Ministers and employers also recognised the need to address key skills shortages.
Unions were irked, however, by criticism of councils' 'Monday to Friday, nine to five' culture, which the document describes as 'inappropriate and outmoded'.
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