3
and how much more or less? It is this second question which for many
years has been at the root of most arguments within the civil service
about pay.
11.
Over the years the Government has tried various ways of
arriving at decisions on pay relativities between one grade and
another. These have included Salaries Commissions composed of
visiting overseas experts, special Committees of Enquiry to look into
the problems of individual grades, and reference to the Senior Civil
Service Council. These methods were all found unsatisfactory and in
recent years it had been left to the Civil Service Branch to decide
these important questions of rank structure and relativities with other
grades. Staff were naturally unhappy that in the event of disagreement
between staff and management, it was management in the form of Civil
Service Branch which appeared to take the final decisións.
12.
This lack of effective machinery for dealing with civil
service pay scales had various consequences. Staff mistruet meant
that decisions were constantly under appeal; a backlog of work
accumulated; departmental organisations were not modernised as quickly
as they should have been; and there was a loss of efficiency.
important, there was a loss of confidence on the part of both staff
and management in the ability of the civil service to resolve these
Something clearly had to be done.
difficult problems.
More
13.
A year ago today 1 announced in this Council that after most
careful consideration, and after extensive consultation with staff,
the Government intended to set up entirely new machinery in the fork
of a Standing Salaries Commission.
In January 1979 the Members of the
/Commission
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