13 May 2005
Prime Minister Tony Blair is at odds with the Treasury over civil service pay reforms, but must quickly reach agreement to help combat gender inequalities, a leading Whitehall trade unionist has warned.
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union, which represents 300,000 civil servants, told Public Finance this week that there was now 'firm evidence' that the Cabinet Office, supported by Blair, and the Treasury were split over plans to introduce pay 'coherence' across the civil service.
Serwotka said civil service leaders had received assurances from Blair and, this week, from new Cabinet Office minister John Hutton, that the government would attempt to achieve coherence through standard pay packages across departments.
Whitehall operates 229 separate pay deals for civil servants, leaving staff in different departments exposed to wide variations in basic pay even when they perform similar roles. As well as reinforcing problems with pay, this system is 'needlessly time consuming and inefficient', Serwotka claimed.
But the Treasury has so far vetoed moves to take the agenda forward, on cost grounds.
Serwotka told PF: 'The prime minister is on record as saying he wants coherence and that has been our long-standing goal – to reduce the nonsensical requirement for 229 separate pay deals.
'But…we are pretty clear that the Cabinet Office interpretation differs from the Treasury's. We need to make progress on coherence – which inevitably requires pay rises for low-paid staff at organisations such as the Department for Work and Pensions – as well as minimum standards and gender inequalities.'
The gender pay gap across Whitehall rose by 3% last year, leaving men's average earnings up to 25% higher than women's.
Serwotka believes the key departments' different approaches are 'based solely on financial considerations'. He said: 'The Treasury has realised that these changes don't come cheap, but they are long overdue and we want to hold the prime minister to his commitment.'
However, Serwotka believes that the appointment of a new chief secretary to the Treasury, Des Browne, provides the government with an opportunity to change tack.
A Treasury spokeswoman said: 'The Treasury is fully engaged in the pay coherence strategy. We keep our reward structures under review regularly to ensure we attract and retain high-quality public services staff.
'Of course, we also negotiate regularly with recognised trade unions and that process will continue.'
PFmay2005
