Good news today from the Conservatives who have promised to make a priority of reversing the Government's proposed increase in National Insurance and also to control the pay of senior staff in quangos and public services. The national insurance cut is great news for ordinary families, most of whom will save hundreds of pounds a year. The new controls on pay for senior staff in the public services are also extremely welcome, the Sun reports:
"He also declared war on public servant fat cats.
None will earn more than the PM’s £190,000-a-year.
This will hit 68 heads of government bodies and 23 NHS managers.
They include Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards, who gets £417,581 a year, and others shown above."
Any public sector organisation that wants to pay any of its staff more than the Prime Minister earns, £190,000 a year, will need to apply for special permission from the Chancellor of the Exchequer. We understand that permission will only be given for the Financial Services Authority, the Bank of England and the permanent secretaries of central government departments. There are 68 quangocrats who will be affected.
Staff in the public sector too often enjoy the benefits, like pensions and job security, of working in the public sector but expect the rewards accorded to those working in private sector. In other cases, they are grossly rewarded for failure.
The TaxPayers' Alliance has been campaigning on this issue for some time with our Public Sector Rich Lists and Town Hall Rich Lists and other research into public sector remuneration. Companies, when they aren't spending their own money, have shareholders who need to ensure executive compensation is kept under control. Taxpayers are effectively the shareholders in the public sector but, for now at least, we can only control executive pay in the public sector through the Government we elect to take responsibility for controlling how our money is spent. It is good that the Conservatives are taking that responsibility more seriously.