Extract from IDS Executive Compensation Review 303, May 2006

Senior civil servants, judges and army chiefs

At the end of March, after some delay, the Senior Salaries’ Review Body (SSRB) published its 2006 pay recommendations for top civil servants, military chiefs and judges which came into effect from April. Against a backdrop of calls for public sector pay restraint, we discuss some of the key issues raised in the latest SSRB report.

This year’s twenty-eighth report on the salaries of 3,900 senior civil servants (SCS), 2,087 in the judiciary and 134 senior army personnel, recommended average increases of 3.25 per cent, 3.43 per cent and 3 per cent respectively. After considering the recommendations, the Government agreed to implement the armed forces’ rise in full, while in a move reminiscent of the prior Conservative administration, it will stage the recommended increases for the judiciary and SCS. This article contains tables summarising the latest pay movements as well as new salary rates for the groups affected by the increases.