Speaking about the idea that “you would have a degree of pay that you could lose as well as potentially gain,” Penman said “we would flatly reject that as a concept.”
“There are many problems with senior civil service pay, but the idea that you’re going to resolve those issues or somehow resolve poor performance by threatening some of the most senior and committed public servants in the country with losing their pay is anathema,” he said.
Penman added that “what they need is a fair pay system for the job that they do, and effective performance management.” He warned that “constant tinkering” with performance management systems “does nothing but undermine the integrity of public servants.” He also criticised plans to sharpen performance management work with the poorest-performing 10 per cent of civil servants in each grade, branding the cut-off point “absolutely arbitrary.”
Meanwhile, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has written to union general secretaries announcing that he is “satisfied that across the civil service as a whole there is sufficient support” for him to implement plans for public sector pension reforms.
The government has said that it won’t bring forward the necessary legislation without broad union support. Maude believes he now has this backing – though negotiations over contribution rate increases will continue – and has asked for union cooperation in implementing the changes. However, he added that “it is difficult to see how those unions going down the route of further confrontation can participate constructively in the future work to implement the new scheme.”