Civil servants 'dissatisfied' with pay

31 May 17

Civil servants are dissatisfied with average salaries that run just below those of the UK workforce, the Institute of Government has said.

The IfG assessed sources of information about Whitehall pay and found that with average increases limited to 1% there was discontent beyond the lowest paying departments.

It cited the 2016 Civil Service People Survey where pay was the lowest-scoring of all 10 themes surveyed and in no department did a majority of staff express satisfaction with their remuneration.

“Other IfG research has suggested – perhaps unsurprisingly – that the departments where the highest proportion of employees want to leave in the next year are those with the lowest pay satisfaction,” it noted.

But the departments where there was the greatest satisfaction with pay and benefits - those of education and of work and pensions – were not the ones with the highest median pay, which were transport and international development.

Annual pay across the whole civil service was slightly up on 2015, though it increased in 11 departments while falling in seven.

The department with the highest average pay was international development, at £53,430, more than double the £22,240 average in work and pensions, the lowest paying department.

This difference could be largely accounted for the former’s preponderance of high grades whereas the DWP had a greater concentration of staff at more junior roles, the IfG said.

Among senior staff the best payer was the Ministry of Justice at an average of £83,870.

There were 405 civil servants rated as ’high earners’ – on salaries in excess of £150,000 a year - of which the greatest concentration was the 112 in transport, of whom 48 worked for Network Rail, and 42 at HS2.

Health had the second highest total of high earners at 94, with 27 at NHS England, 22 at Public Health England and 13 at NHS Improvement.

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