Rewarding leaders in the UK public services: what's happening to executive pay?

Farnham, David and White, Geoff (2011) Rewarding leaders in the UK public services: what's happening to executive pay? International Journal of Employment Studies, 19 (1). pp. 26-49. ISSN 1039-6993

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Abstract

This exploratory article examines the phenomenon of ‘top people’s pay drift’ in UK public services in recent years, focusing on the senior civil service, chief executives in the National Health Service, and chief executives in local government. The article discusses why there is growing interest in the level of chief executive pay in these public services, which has culminated in the coalition government commissioning a ‘Review of Fair Pay in the Public Sector’. Drawing on recent evidence in the field, the article explains how top people’s pay is determined, top pay trends in these three sub-sectors, and the relationship of the pay of chief executives with that of lower level public servants. It concludes that levels of remuneration for chief executives in public services have been increasing faster than those for other public service workers and that top people’s pay is emerging as a public policy issue.

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