Senior Civil Service Pay and Bonuses
Assembly Research Services: Paper setting out the background and context to the debate on senior civil servants’ pay and bonuses
Background
The Committee for Finance and Personnel has tabled a motion for debate in the Assembly on Monday 29 June 2009; the motion follows the Committee’s scrutiny of the system for awarding pay and bonuses to senior NICS officials during the last twelve months.
The total bonus paid out to senior civil servants over the last five years is shown in the chart below. The total awarded in 2007/08 was £1,232,500, up from £578,300 in 2003/04 so bonuses more than doubled over five-year period.
source: collated from Departmental answers to Assembly questions by CFP Secretariat
The Bonus System
The current system has been in place since 2002. A proportion of the overall senior civil service pay bill is set aside for non-consolidated (i.e. not pensionable) bonuses each year as part of the annual pay settlement. This proportion is determined by the Senior Salaries Review Body (which is independent from Government) and Cabinet Office guidance.
An independent review of the system was announced on 11 June 2009.
Pay Bands
The pay band 1 (assistant secretary), 2 (deputy secretary), 3 (permanent secretary) and 4 (Head of Civil Service) salary bands and median salaries of officers within those bands from 1 April 2008 are:
| Salary band | Median salary | Number of officials receiving bonus | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Pay Band 1 |
£57,300 to £116,000 |
£61,153 |
108 |
|
Pay Band 2 |
£81,600 to £160,000 |
£86,971 |
44 |
|
Pay Band 3 |
£98,059 to £205,000 |
£100,962 |
12 |
|
Pay Band 4 |
£139,740 to £273,250 |
n/a |
1 |
Note: as there is only one individual in this band no median salary is provided.
Source: DFP
Assembly Questions
Since the beginning of 2009, there have been more than 40 Assembly questions tabled on the subject reflecting the high level of political and public interest in the issue. Most have been focussed on establishing exactly how much was paid out by each department over a given period. This appears to have given rise to questions about the transparency of the system.
Media Coverage
The topic has also attracted the interest of the media with a number of headlines in recent months in the Belfast Telegraph, Irish News, Belfast Newsletter, the Mirror and also on the BBC among others. The coverage has highlighted a number of issues:
- Politicians and the public are unclear what the bonuses are paid for;
- The number and rate of bonus payments are not determined by individual departmental ministers but by the Department of Finance and Personnel;
- Senior officials’ remuneration is linked to that in Whitehall but more junior officials’ is negotiated locally;
- A number of bodies has called for the system to be reviewed, including NIPSA and the Taxpayers’ Alliance.
- In responding to Written Assembly Questions a number of ministers expressed concern at the level of payouts
