NTMA claims disclosure of staff pay details would harm agency’s operation

Disclosure of individual pay levels for staff in the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) under an expanded Freedom of Information would have a serious adverse effect on the organisation, an external consultants' report maintained.

The report, which was sent to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform as part of its deliberations within Government on reforming the legislation, contended that the release of pay details could hinder the ability of the NTMA "to attract and retain key talent, manage staff internally and execute its core functions".

The assessment carried out by consultants Towers Watson said an expectation of privacy and confidentiality was clearly the norm in the key sectors and employee categories from which the NTMA recruited the majority of its staff – mid-career financial services and professional services employees.

The report also maintained that staff already employed by the NTMA had entered into individually-negotiated contracts “with a clear expectation of privacy and confidentiality”.

“In our view, publication of salary information would be likely to have a critical impact on decisions by potential employees to join the NTMA and would serve to significantly impair the pool of talent available to the organisation.

“In addition, there is a material risk that existing specialist staff would leave if they felt their private remuneration details were to be disclosed.”