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Nick Harvey MPStanding up for North Devon since 1992 |
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Regional public sector pay guidelines benefit no one
July 26, 2012 12:02 PM
In North Devon Journal
In North Devon Journal
The consultation on regional pay in the public sector culminates in a report back from the pay review bodies this month. I will read the evidence closely, but I can't deny hoping that this proves to be the end of the story and the whole idea can be buried once and for all.
Campaigns and legal cases have long been waged to achieve equal pay for equal work. Decades of progress would be sent into reverse if we now allow the same job to attract different wage rates around the country.
North Devon has much to lose from local, regional, zonal or "market-facing" pay in the public sector (all this jargon has been used in the last couple of years). We have among the very lowest private sector pay in the country, so public sector wages seem quite good by comparison. In other areas the reverse is true.
So, if the wages of our best-paid local workers were to be cut to match private sector salaries that would mean less money in our local economy. That would hit local shops, businesses, services and traders, ultimately reducing their profits and leading to further cuts in their pay rates. Nobody would benefit!
As for our public services, it would become impossible to attract doctors, nurses, teachers, policemen and so on into North Devon, and also incentivise our public servants to go elsewhere to earn more. They would also find lower house prices in some higher-paid areas, yet ours would remain high with people retiring in.
Arguments from supporters of regional pay, saying the affluent public sector "outbids" private firms in recruiting in lower paid areas, seem thin to me. In twenty years as MP in a low paid area I have never heard this argument from any local employer. Specific skill shortages - yes. Public sector nicking all the talent - no!
The reality is that it is a crude attempt to cut costs with little thought as to the longer term consequences. The money saved would neither be ploughed back into local services, nor contribute to economic growth. At best it would be used to improve public services in more affluent areas and thereby cause an even bigger inequality.
The last Labour Government started all this in 2007 with the Courts Service, but a couple of years after bringing it in they twigged it was a failure and began to reverse their way out of most of it.
Our Government would do well to follow suit - and give the whole thing a swift burial.