Jul 2007 25

Whitehall paying over the odds for outsiders1

An interesting piece by Sue Cameron in today’s Financial Times reveals how outsiders recruited into the top ranks of the civil service are being paid up to £100,000 more than the advertised top rate for the job, and that £6 million a year is being spent on commercial headhunters whose job is to seek out candidates in the private sector, or other parts of the public sector, for Whitehall jobs.

As Ms Cameron writes:

"Before you start tut-tutting about market forces, going rates, monkeys, mandarins and peanuts, there are a few things to bear in mind. First, Whitehall appears to be making no attempt to check whether these inflated salaries give value for money to the poor taxpayer. All too often the evidence is the other way. Whitehall’s highest paid outsiders are often in specialist areas such as information technology. Yet when it comes to IT disasters, Whitehall could win prizes….

So what can the permanent secretaries – the top officials in each department – do to end this pay fiasco? For a start they must stop paying internal candidates less than the advertised minimum for the job – a guaranteed recipe for resentment and, very probably, for legal action. Second, they must see what they can do to slash the bill for headhunters – the £6m figure is just for the very top jobs and the total figure will be higher. Of course it will sometimes be necessary to employ commercial search companies but surely Whitehall could set up an internal headhunting unit of its own at a fraction of the cost. Above all the civil service must do a value-for-money audit. No one wants to discourage greater interchange between the public and private sectors but nobody in Whitehall should be paid over the odds unless the taxpayer can be sure there is no other way of getting a job done properly."

Is it possible that taxpayers are getting the worst of both worlds – sub-standard services and inflated costs? Most certainly. Ms Cameron’s analysis is unfortunately absolutely right!

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  • http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/actionnetwork/G2287 ATFlynn

    All the time Westminster and Whitehall, hold all the aces, “you aint going to change diddily-squat”.
    Your only option is to take charge of the whole system of Taxation yourself. And it is perfectly Legal.
    There are many many people living here, millionaires and billionaires, who pay nothing but Council Tax. Me, I just want all you Taxpayers to get the same treatment.
    And the only way to do that is when You the Taxpayer is in the Bloody Driving seat. I don’t want to control Taxation. I want the Taxpayer to use their Parish and Town Councils, to take charge and do the job properly, Legally and Democratlly. Returning our Sovereignty to the British Electorate, never again to allow a bunch of half-arsed Politicians try to build a “United States of Europe”.
    And by halfa***, I mean to include those named by Frederick Forsyth in todays Express. The passed-over has-beens as Heseltine,Clarke, Gummer,Patten and Hurd.
    At one time some ‘papers were in favour of Clarke as Leader of the Conservatives. A man who needed Six “wise men” to lead him along the corridors of power. The man needed someone to hold his hand when navigating the Treasury. Lead the Conservative Party???? The mind boggles.
    Believe me, we will be a lot better off without the lot of them. This is not about this Party or that Party, it is about the complete failure of Westminster Politics. As one very notable Seaman used to say ” Standing there with your thumb up your bumb and your mind in neutral”. (There are still Seamen about who served with him.)
    That seems to be the main occupation of
    Most of the Civil Service and Most of the Members of Parliament.
    Well, enough for now, time for a cup of tea.
    Regards, ATFlynn.