Plans to financially reward increased capability in the senior civil service have been “abandoned”, according to the government’s pay review body.
In its latest report, the Senior Salaries Review Body said commitments by the last few governments to introduce capability-based pay progression in the civil service have been “abandoned with belated recognition of its excessive complexity”.
Capability-based pay, which aims to reward officials for developing skills and expertise so that they don’t need to change jobs to get pay rises, has been in the works since 2018.
The SSRB and civil service unions have repeatedly called on the government to implement it in the senior civil service to resolve long-standing and chronic issues with the pay system.
A survey by Prospect and the FDA last year found that four in five senior civil servants felt the SCS pay system is unfair, while 86% were “dissatisfied or very dissatisfied” with pay progression.
Boris Johnson’s government committed to introducing it in the SCS, with a scheme across the civil service to follow later, as part of the 2021 Declaration on Government Reform.
Pilots were held between September 2021 and April 2022 to test the scheme, but the Cabinet Office has since cast it aside.
In its evidence to the SSRB last year, the Cabinet Office said it would not implement capability-based pay in 2023-24. A month later, then-Cabinet Office minister Jeremy Quin said he was “determined to deliver” pay-progression reform.
But in its evidence to the SSRB this February, the Cabinet Office said capability-based pay would not be introduced in 2024-25. Instead, it said: “It remains the intention to implement a system that rewards the increase in skills and capability. This will be considered as part of the overall strategy for the SCS, where it remains the government’s ambition for a smaller, higher-skilled, productive, and better-rewarded SCS.”
In its report, the SSRB raised concerns about the pay system, including the absence of a clear strategic vision for the purpose, size and composition of the SCS; excessive churn; and a proliferation of piecemeal measures which are no substitute for correcting structural defects in the pay system. It said it is “concerned that the quality of the cadre leading the government’s initiatives and overseeing public services is being eroded”.
“From time to time, the Cabinet Office has sought to address some of these problems,” the SSRB said.
But it said “recent experience has been that initiatives are under development for many years before implementation, and in that time, some are cancelled”, referencing capability-based pay progression and a 2021 proposal for an SCS strategy.
The SSRB said “an overarching strategy and some form of pay progression are two fundamental building blocks to a well-run and value-for-money SCS”.
The Cabinet Office’s latest attempt to create a new SCS strategy is set to be published in January 2025, according to the pay review body. The SSRB said the strategy should answer fundamental questions such as: What is the SCS for and what do we want it to do? How many people and what skillsets are required to do this work? What pay system is necessary to recruit and retain them?
Alongside its concerns, the SSRB said it was encouraged that "many" of the measures set out in the Civil Service People Plan, which was published in January, "are on track to be delivered by the end of this year, and if implemented well may start to improve civil service recruitment and management".
CSW asked the Cabinet Office for the new government’s position on introducing capability-based pay.
A government spokesperson said: "The government's entire focus is delivering on change, and supporting the civil service with the necessary tools to ensure it can deliver for working people.
"We have accepted the Senior Salaries Review Body recommendations and this year's award will help us to continue to attract, retain and develop the very best senior talent for government.
“The government’s ambition is to deliver a smaller, higher-skilled, and productive SCS that is better rewarded and incentivised to enhance their skills and capabilities.”