The Cabinet Office has extended Pippa Lambert’s stay as interim chair of the Senior Salaries Review Body by six months as it continues its near two-year search for a permanent recruit.
The last permanent chair of the pay review body for senior public servants, Martin Read, left the role in May 2022 having held it for six years.
Commenting on the announcement, FDA union assistant general secretary Lucille Thirlby said: “The FDA welcomes Pippa Lambert’s reappointment. She has demonstrated a continuing and deep understanding of the issues faced by the SCS and has been on the SSRB for some time now, so is best placed to continue to steer the review body."
Thirlby added: "The role of chair of SSRB is significant and important, but like other issues related to pay and their own staff, the government doesn’t appear to prioritise resource in this area.”
The SSRB provides independent advice to the prime minister and senior ministers on the pay of many of the nation’s top public servants, including senior civil servants. Last year it recommended pay rises of 5.5-6.5%, which the government accepted. But in December John Glen, the minister for the Cabinet Office,urged the SSRB to remember the “historically high” pay awards agreed in 2023 when making recommendations for this year.
Lambert's extension is one of several SSRB appointments announced by the Cabinet Office this week.
Lambert, a former global head of HR for Deutsche Bank, first joined the SSRB in October 2018. She became interim chair in July 2022, with an initial 12-month contract. Her contract was renewed in July 2023 and has now been extended once again.
The latest recruitment campaign to appoint a permanent chair began in June 2023, with candidates having until October to apply and interviews due to have taken place in February. The Cabinet Office has given no update on whether this timetable has been kept to but CSW understands this campaign is still being progressed.
Other new SSRB appointees include Mark Polin and David Stanton, who will serve three-year terms as board members. Ian McCafferty, former chief economic adviser to the Confederation of British Industry, will stay on as a member for a second three-year term.
Polin was chief constable of North Wales Police before retiring in 2018. Stanton is sub-dean and canon treasurer at Westminster Abbey, and a “distinguished friend” of Oxford University.
The Cabinet Office has also appointed Zoë Billingham, chair of the Police Remuneration Review Body and a former HM inspector of constabulary and fire and rescue, as an ex-officio policing member on a 12-month contract. Sharon Witherspoon, former head of policy at the Academy of Social Sciences, will serve as an interim judicial member for six months.
As well as senior civil servants, the SSRB’s remit covers the judiciary, senior military, police and crime commissioners, chief police officers, and certain senior managers in the NHS.