Just for the record, as there seems to have been doubt in the past – I am a Conservative. I am not generally someone who is in favour of restricting people’s potential in any way. But I like today’s idea on restricting public sector salaries. There was a really interesting profile about John Lewis a few weeks ago, which mentions the idea of multiples – and for example, every partner there (ie every single person working there) gets the same percentage bonus each year.
I cannot see how many public sector employees have more responsibilities than the Prime Minister, and yet there are 31 council employees who earn more than him, and 323 across the public sector as a whole.
Most people, most of the time, do not choose a job just because it pays well (though I admit that, despite my non-facility with numbers, I was tempted by banking while at university because a friend was given a firm job offer and took the letter to her bank who gave her an enormous overdraft on the strength of it…) – most who have the choice will choose something with a bit of challenge, a bit of comfort zone, a bit of potential and a bit of vocation.
Politically the clever thing here is to restrict it not with a blunt cap (you’d just see higher bonuses, or even bigger pension contributions, or some other cunning plans) but to ensure that public sector pay is fair by only allowing a multiple of the lowest pay rank to be paid to the highest-paid.
Clearly there are still some quirks to be ironed out. But the general principle of fair salaries in the public sector is a good one. It makes for a more sensible use of public money, and it will eventually make for a more cohesive workforce. Who knows, some public bodies might even raise the lowest salaries instead of cutting the highest ones…
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