David Cameron is facing a complete breakdown in relations with his mandarins as a secret blueprint to break up the civil service is revealed today.
The plans put the country's 434,000 civil servants into four geographical pay zones, with those living in the south-west, on the south coast, Wales, much of the Midlands and the north-east earning least. Those in inner and outer London will be highest paid, followed by civil servants working in a corridor stretching from Bristol to the Thames estuary, and those in pay "hotspots" in Manchester and Birmingham.
The Cabinet Office's Reward, Efficiency and Reform Group (Rerg), assisted by the Hay Group private consultancy, has drawn up a "local pay map" that will form the basis for how civil servants' pay is set for the next three years. It is understood ministers are working on estimates that show average earnings in the north-east are 10% lower than the UK average, 6% lower in the West Midlands, and 7% lower in Yorkshire and the Humber.
However, the plans threaten to push relations with the civil service – already strained over the reform agenda – to breaking point.
Ian Watmore, 53, who was in charge of cutting costs across departments and headed Rerg, quit last week, six months after he became permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, following a series of disagreements with his minister, Francis Maude.
Huge consternation has followed the leaking of details last week of a fiery meeting between Sir Bob Kerslake, head of the civil service, and the prime minister's director of strategy, Steve Hilton.
Hilton, who left Downing Street last week, is reported to have proposed that 90% of the work done by civil servants could be outsourced to thinktanks, charities and private companies.
On Saturday, the shadow cabinet office minister, Gareth Thomas, said the government was in danger of losing any remaining goodwill and appeared to be "waging war on the pay of hard-working, often lowly paid, public servants".
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: "We don't comment on leaks. In the civil service, pay is usually set on a 'one size fits all' basis at a national level, whereas in the private sector pay is set in accordance with local labour markets. This means civil servants are often paid more than private sector workers in similar jobs in the same area, which has the potential to hurt private sector businesses."
(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)
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(Agencies)
一張有關英國公務員的秘密「薪酬地圖」近日遭到洩露，英國首相大衛-卡梅倫很可能因此和同僚們把關係搞僵。
這張「地圖」將英國43.4萬名公務員按任職地理位置歸入四大「付薪地區」：西南區、南部沿海區、威爾斯區、以及中西部大部分地區和薪水最低的東北區。倫敦附近的公務員收入最高，排在之後的是從布里斯托到泰晤士河口這一走廊地帶的公務員，以及曼徹斯特和伯明罕等薪酬「熱點地區」的公務員。
在合益私人顧問集團的協助下，英國內閣辦公室的「獎勵、效率和改革小組」已制定出未來三年的「地區薪酬支付地圖」，該地圖將構成公務員薪酬支付的基礎。據稱，按照部長們制定的預算，東北區的公務員薪酬水平比英國平均水平低10%，西米德蘭郡要低6%，約克郡和亨伯地區要低7%。
這張「地圖」可能會讓英國公務員之間的緊張關係一觸即發，此前的公務員改革計劃已經讓政府內部的氣氛劍拔弩張。
53歲的伊恩•瓦特摩爾於上周辭職，他曾經負責削減政府部門運營成本，也是「獎勵、效率和改革小組」的負責人。他任職內閣辦公室常任秘書共6個月，但和他的部長-弗朗西斯•莫德有很多分歧。
上周，公務員主管鮑勃•科爾斯萊克爵士和首相的戰略主管斯蒂文•希爾頓進行了會晤，他們的會談內容被洩露了出來，令眾人驚愕不已。
據報導，上周離職的希爾頓提議，現在英國公務員所做的工作中，90%可以外包給智庫、慈善機構和私人公司。
上周六，影子內閣辦公室負責人加雷斯•託馬斯說，政府看上去正遭受失去信譽的危險，看起來是在「拼命削減那些努力工作、通常收入不高的公務員薪酬。」
內閣辦公室的一位發言人說：「我們對於信息的洩露不予置評。行政部門的薪酬通常按照國家標準採取『一刀切』的政策，但在私營部門，薪水是根據當地的勞動力市場制定的。這意味著在同一個地區的類似工作中，公務員的工資通常比私營部門的員工要高，這有可能傷害到私營經濟。」
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