CIVIL SERVICE REFORM:MORE THAN 300,000 public sector workers are facing the prospect of a new round of pay cuts after on expenditure review group called on the Government to initiate a benchmarking review of their remuneration.
Calling for the elimination of more than 17,000 public sector jobs to save an annual total of some €700 million from the exchequer’s €19.7 billion pay and pensions bill, the group led by economist Colm McCarthy said the new benchmarking round must not exclude pay cuts.
Benchmarking is a process designed to bring public sector pay into line with pay in private business but previous reviews were empowered only to increase public pay or hold it steady.
“There is . . . a case for instituting a new benchmarking review to address the pay of public servants generally, with a remit to look at international pay rates and not confine itself to domestic comparators, and with a mandate to recommend reductions where the facts warrant this.”
Such a process would be in addition to a new examination of senior-grade pay which was recently initiated by the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the Public Sector.
Mr McCarthy’s group warns in its report that there should be no “undue delay” in the drive to reach agreement on the elimination of 17,358 State jobs. “Initial reductions on this scale are the minimum that must be achieved. These savings will require, inter alia, a commitment to the non-replacement of staff and the down-sizing of the public service.
“Crucially, while work efficiencies and redeployment should allow for broad continuity in the delivery of key public services, in other cases full savings will only be delivered where there is a political and public acceptance that the State can no longer afford to continue some service at previous levels, or at all.”
The most severe job cuts would be in the health and education sectors, which would lose more than 13,000 positions between them. The agricultural sector would lose 1,140 jobs, the justice sector would lose 540 and defence would lose 520. There would be 660 job cuts from the finance group, including Department of Finance, the Revenue and other bodies.
The report calls for expensive restrictive rules to be scrapped, stating that a range of outdated practices and allowances add greatly to the cost of services. Pointing out that the current number of public sector staff rose by 45,636 to 316,656 between 2001 and 2009, the report notes a disproportionate rise in the ratio of senior grades in some cases.
For example, it says the number at middle to higher management levels in the Civil Service grew by by some 82 per cent in the period 1997 to 2009 at a time when Civil Service numbers as a whole increased 27 per cent.
The report says a “uniform public service numbers policy” should be put in place. This would involve the capping and progressive lowering of numbers in particular sectors with targets for annual reductions and effective staff redeployment mechanisms to minimise any adverse impact on the public service.
