Senior Civil Service Pay and Bonuses

DFP Response (21 November 2008)

Mr Shane McAteer 

Clerk 
Committee for Finance and Personnel 
Room 419 
Parliament Buildings 
STORMONT

21 November 2008

Dear Shane

I refer to your letter dated 7 November in which you requested further information relating to bonus payments paid to senior civil servants in the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS). You specifically asked for a breakdown of the bonuses paid to 149 senior civil servants as part of the 2007 Senior Civil Service pay award, by Department and grade where possible. You also asked for similar information for the 2008 pay award.

By way of background, I think it is worthwhile explaining for the benefit of the Committee how arrangements for Senior Civil Service (SCS) pay in the NICS are determined. As with the Home Civil Service (HCS) in Great Britain, the SCS in Northern Ireland is treated as a separate cadre for the purposes of pay. There is no negotiation or collective pay bargaining with staff representatives on SCS pay. The starting point for determining SCS pay in the HCS and the NICS each year is the annual report of the independent Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB), which makes recommendations to the Government on a range of public sector salaries. The SSRB typically makes recommendations on the total increase in the SCS paybill and, within that, what proportion of the paybill should be paid as non-consolidated bonuses as opposed to consolidated pay rises. In 2007 the SSRB recommended that the SCS paybill should increase by 2.6% and that the non-consolidated bonus pot should amount to 7.6% of the total paybill. The Cabinet Office accepted these recommendations and individual departments, including the devolved administrations, subsequently developed their respective SCS pay strategies in line with the proposals recommended by the SSRB and accepted by the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office also recommended that approximately 60%-75% of the SCS should receive a non-consolidated bonus award. The 2007 NICS Senior Civil Service pay strategy, which was constructed within the parameters recommended by the SSRB, was approved by the Minister of Finance and Personnel in August 2007.

Attached at Annex A is a table which sets out bonus payments as part of the 2007 award. A total by Pay Band 1 (Assistant Secretary) level has been provided for all Departments. Information on bonuses awarded at Pay Band 2 (Deputy Secretary) level has been given by Department for OFMDFM, DFP and DHSS&PS. However, in order to comply with Data Protection principles, and to avoid identifying any individual concerned, bonuses awarded at Grade 3 level for the remaining eight Departments have been grouped together into two tables. The 2008 pay award has not yet been made so information for this year is not yet available. We will provide the information for 2008 when it is available.

For completeness, information regarding bonuses paid to Permanent Secretaries as part of the 2007 pay award is also included in Annex A.

Yours sincerely

NORMAN IRWIN

ANNEX A

1. 2007 Bonus Payments to Senior Civil Service members (excluding Permanent Secretaries)

75% of Senior Civil Service staff at Pay Band 1 (Assistant Secretary) and Pay Band 2 (Deputy Secretary) level were eligible to receive a non-consolidated bonus payment as part of the 2007 pay award.

As requested, a breakdown of bonuses awarded is set out in the tables below by Departmentand grade.

For the larger three Departments bonus information can be presented by grade. For the remaining eight smaller Departments the information is still given individually at Pay Band 1 level, where there is a greater number of staff, but is amalgamated into two tables for Pay Band 2 level to avoid breaching the Data Protection Act by identifying any individuals concerned.

2. 2007 BONUS PAYMENTS TO PERMANENT SECRETARIES

In 2007, 13 Permanent Secretaries were eligible to receive bonus payments (including the Head of Government Legal Services and the Head of the Civil Service). In order to avoid releasing personal information and breaching the Data Protection Act, a breakdown of bonuses awarded is not possible. However the total amount of bonuses awarded was £111,500.

OFMDFM, DFP & DHSSPS

DSD, DARD, DRD, DOE, DE, DEL, DETI & DCAL

AMALGAMATED PAY BAND 2 INFORMATION