Civil service 'too liberal' with pay bonuses for staff

azzuri · Civil service 'too liberal' with pay bonuses for staff

see - http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=1084012006

Civil service 'too liberal' with pay bonuses for staff

PETER MACMAHON SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT EDITOR

TOO many civil servants in Scotland are being rewarded for their work with annual bonuses of up to £1,500, their boss has admitted.

Sir John Elvidge, the country's most senior civil servant, has ordered a crackdown on the Scottish Executive's performance-related pay scheme after discovering more than one in ten staff has been graded as "exceptional" by managers.

That rating allows them to qualify for bonus payments of between £750 and £1,500 a year - but Sir John, the Executive's permanent secretary, says managers are being too lax in making the awards.

It also emerged that the bonus system appeared to be biased in favour of senior civil servants.

Figures submitted to the Executive's management group, which Sir John chairs, showed 550 civil servants, more than 12 per cent, were judged by their managers as "exceptional". According to the minutes of the group, made up of Scotland's most senior civil servants, the "distribution of exceptional markings was weighted towards the higher pay bands".

The Executive said a higher proportion of the 640 civil servants in band C - who earn between £36,200 and £60,400 a year and can get an extra £1,500 if judged "exceptional" - had been given top marks. A lower proportion of the 3,500 staff in bands A and B - who earn between £12,300 and £36,200 a year and can qualify for bonuses of £1,000 and £750 respectively - were graded by their superiors as top performers.

Minutes of the management group meeting disclose that department heads across the Executive have agreed to "moderate the award of exceptional markings and look critically at the distribution of exceptional markings across pay bands".

The minutes also reveal that the group rejected the idea of imposing a quota on the number that could be judged "exceptional" - rather than the other categories of "effective", "partly effective" or "unsatisfactory".

An Executive spokeswoman said:

"Only staff who had performed to an exceptional standard received a performance bonus payment. To attract and retain hard-working and talented staff, the Executive offers a remuneration package, as do other government departments and public-sector and private-sector employers."

John Swinney, the SNP's finance spokesman, said:

"This suggests the system has been far from fair and far from accurate and has inflated salaries of some people at the higher end of the spectrum at the expense of lower-paid employees."

Derek Brownlee, the Tories' finance spokesman, said: "The system seems to lack rigour."

Shocker! Rolling Eyes

frank rizzo

"It also emerged that the bonus system appeared to be biased in favour of senior civil servants"

Aye is it! I'm a civil servant on less than £18K/year and get less than £500 a year for my annual bonus. The length of time it takes to reach your pay scale max for your grade is laughable also.

The Tories have some brass neck to talk about this mind.

neil8r

I can understand how in say the manufacturing industry workers can end up with bonus's as that would be down to profitability but how does it work in the Civil Service?

SF102

It would appear that "exceptional" in this case (and in ALL civil services i assume) means actually doing your job properly, instead of going the extra mile and helping someone as is the definition of exceptional (in my mind at least)