The scheme was introduced in April and departments are now working out which roles they see as ‘pivotal’, after which they will have to submit their proposals to a new sub-group of the Civil Service Board, then have them signed off by Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude and chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander. The PRAs budget is capped at 0.5% of the senior civil service pay bill – about £1.5m – and payments may be made during the project or at its conclusion.
The plan is a response to complaints that civil service HR systems force project leaders to leave their jobs in order to get a promotion. Public Administration Select Committee chair Bernard Jenkin, also speaking at CSL last week, said: “The only way to get continuity in project management is by promoting people in post, so that people working on a 15-year project will spend most of their career on that project but may move up several grades”. The PRA does not support grade promotions, but Kerslake said it is “a step along the road” to further reforms.
Kerslake also said departments now recognise promotions awarded to civil servants who’ve been seconded to other departments, adding that “it’s quite amazing that wasn’t the case in the first place”. And he announced a new programme of secondments outside government, saying that “everybody should have the benefit of” spending time outside government.