Responding to the Senior Salaries Review Body report published today, Garry Graham, deputy general secretary of Prospect union, which represents 28,000 professionals, managers and specialists across the civil service and wider public sector said:

“The SSRB’s most recent report on pay for the senior civil service pours scorn on the Chancellor’s assertion that public sector workers are overpaid.

“In the past year, 18% of the intakes for the SCS have come from the private sector and almost all took a pay cut. Despite this, the difference in median pay between internal people who are promoted and external hires was 29%.

“In brief, private sector workers are taking a pay cut to join the public sector – but still earning 29% more than their SCS counterparts.

“It is no wonder that, in the context of the arbitrary 1% cap on public sector pay, the review body concluded that: ‘it is difficult for the SSRB to operate effectively’.

“That is why Prospect has been calling for a truly independent review of pay for the civil service. The 1% cap is clearly unsustainable and has to go,” Graham concluded.

You can read Prospect and the FDA’s evidence to the review body here.