Prospect writes to Paymaster General about remit guidance

Prospect General Secretary Mike Clancy has written to Paymaster General John Glen MP about the scope of the forthcoming remit guidance for civil service pay.

The text of the letter is as follows:

Dear Minister,

Scope of the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance

Thank you for our recent meeting, where I said I would follow up our discussion about additional flexibilities under the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance (CSPRG) and whether they could be extended – with particular reference to arm’s length bodies (ALBs).

Prospect represents managers, professionals and specialists across the Civil Service and the wider public sector. Many do not work at the “centre” of government, many are not technically “civil servants”, and many undertake functions which are very different from the more administrative functions usually associated with larger Civil Service employers such as DWP and HMRC. Their work however is fundamental to the delivery of government policy.

The experience of our members in these areas is that they have not been well served by the current pay remit process. This is very often a view shared by their employers. I have set out in my attached note some particular areas and issues that we wish to explore further with you and officials.

In short, the CSPRG has become increasingly prescriptive over the past fifteen years. It limits the flexibilities available to employers and fails to recognise the very different labour markets they operate in and the changing skill sets that will be required of our civil and public servants for the future. Many of these roles have direct comparators in the private sector.

To ensure the Civil Service and wider public services can meet the challenges our country faces, we need to see:

• an urgent public clarification of which ALBs are and are not currently subject to the CSPRG.
• the immediate restoration of pay flexibilities previously announced for Public Sector Research Establishments and any ALBs with a significant role in R&D, as recommended by the Nurse Review.
• the immediate removal of all Trading Funds from the CSPRG, as is consistent with their other financial flexibilities and responsibilities.
• a rapid review of all other ALBs and the case for removing them from CSPRG coverage, with the presumption that if a specific output or function is best delivered at arm’s length, then that should include the freedom to adopt pay systems best suited to support that goal.
• the streamlining of the process for submitting and agreeing pay flexibility business cases, so that any ALBs remaining under CSPRG are enabled and supported to address genuine issues such as recruitment and retention in a timely manner.
• updates to the guidance on the undertaking of reviews of Public Bodies to ensure that workforce issues, and the impact of Civil Service pay constraints, are always investigated, and reported on, as proposed by the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee.
• proactive promotion and support from the Cabinet Office for ALBs to implement capability-based pay progression, including the development of recommended models that can be adopted where in-house HR capacity and expertise is a barrier.
• provision for necessary improvements in pay and progression arrangements to be fully funded so that they are not at the expense of service delivery or the fairness and coherence of workforce-wide pay systems.

I look forward to hearing from you and would welcome a further meeting to discuss these issues. I will be sharing this letter with our members.

Yours sincerely,

Mike Clancy
General Secretary