COMMITTEE FOR FINANCE AND PERSONNEL

COMMITTEE MOTIONS

Senior Civil Service Pay and Bonuses

Committee Response to First Division Association

Jim Caldwell
First Division Association
NI Senior Officers’ Section
Room 50
Craigantlet Buildings
Stoney Road
Belfast BT4 3SX

9 January 2009

Dear Mr Caldwell,

Senior Civil Service (SCS) Pay System

Thank you for your letter of 18 December 2008, which the Committee for Finance and Personnel considered at its meeting on 7 January 2009. The Committee agreed that I should write to clarify the situation.

At the outset, I should explain that, in investigating the current arrangements for awarding pay and bonuses to senior civil servants in the NICS, the Committee’s focus is on continuing to improve the efficiency and performance of the SCS in leading the delivery of public service priorities, and this includes ensuring that an effective system of rewards and incentives is in place.

In terms of your query why the Committee has not made a call for evidence on this issue, I should clarify that the work to date was not a formal committee inquiry, which would normally involve a call for evidence, but was instead an initial investigation with DFP into the operation of the pay and bonus system. Arising from this, the Committee has raised concerns over whether the current SCS pay and bonus system is meeting the aims of the NICS SCS Pay Strategy. Moreover, the Committee also questions whether, in any event, it is appropriate for the NICS to mirror the Whitehall approach to the award of pay and bonuses to senior civil servants.  

It is in this context that the Committee has called on the Minister of Finance and Personnel to commission an independent review of both the existing SCS pay system and the pay arrangements for the grades above SCS, including the Head of NICS and the permanent secretaries. The review would, inter alia, consider the case for a bespoke pay system for the NICS grades at SCS and above, which is tailored to our local needs.

The Committee welcomes FDA’s willingness to provide evidence. The Committee would see the proposed review as the vehicle for taking evidence from all interested stakeholders in the first instance and the FDA may wish to pursue this option with the Minister if he decides to act on the Committee’s recommendation. However, in the event that the Minister decides not to proceed with a review, the Committee will have the option of initiating a formal inquiry of its own and, in such circumstances, would wish to take written and oral evidence from all interested stakeholders, including the FDA.

I trust this is helpful in clarifying some of the points which you have raised.

Yours sincerely

Mitchel McLaughlin MLA
Chairperson
Committee for Finance and Personnel.