According to official figures, there are currently 2,050 six-figure mandarins
Number of civil servants earning more than £100,000 a year . nearly doubled as new data suggests Whitehall used a loophole to get around the wage freeze.
Official figures show there are currently 2,050 mandarins making six-figure sums. This is 88% more than in 2016: 1,090 people, and the annual salary of 195 people exceeds £150,000.
At the same time, the number of low-wage officials, who usually include ordinary workers, such as prison staff, decreased by more than 11 percent.
The Taxpayers Alliance, which conducted the analysis, found that this discrepancy was indicative that the promotion was being used to circumvent Whitehall's pay caps.
These figures are obtained despite the fact that in some departments nearly half the drop in productivity.
Ministers capped mandarin wage growth at 1% between 2016 and 2018, and froze wages altogether in 2021 to try to bring down the cost of Whitehall.
But new data shows that despite these decisions, average wages have fallen. increased by 26% over the past seven years, and the number of officials with incomes over £75,000 has almost tripled.
In its report, the Taxpayers Alliance said: “The reason wages have increased so much more than allowances to wages, mainly due to inflation estimates. Growth in the top three ranks far exceeded growth in the lower levels.
“The transition to a higher rank entails a transition to a higher salary range. As a result, there has been a significant increase in the number of people earning higher wages over the period.”
The figures also show that the total number of Whitehall employees has increased by 101,440 since 2016. This is an increase of 24.2%. , which was the biggest increase in half a century, despite repeated promises to cut bureaucracy.
Working from home under fire
Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, has been urged by senior Conservative MPs to respond to the statistics by imposing an immediate recruitment freeze until numbers are brought back under control.
Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, former business secretary, told The Telegraph: «The civil service is like Topsy — it's only growing.»
«To stop this, ministers need to impose controls, including freezing hiring and approving any new contracts. .
«The sheer inefficiency of working from home means more people doing less work.»
Sir John Redwood, former head of Margaret Thatcher's No. 10 policy department, said ministers should «immediately impose a ban on all new external recruitment.»
He added: «The civil service is too overburdened and there is a big increase in senior coincided with a big decline in productivity.
“You certainly wouldn’t run such a private sector organization, and an increase of 100,000 over the past few years looks excessive.
“We need fewer people to do more, which is entirely possible given the huge difference in productivity growth between the public and private sectors.”
The figures show that the expansion of the public service has been hard,” with employees with the top three wage levels account for 87 percent of the total increase.
There are now 7,385 officials at the top level of the civil service, including mandarins, who directly advise ministers — an increase of almost 50 percent.
Top 10 highest paid civil servants
The only group that declined were administrative employees and assistants , which tends to include the most publicly exposed employees, and decreased by 17,234 to 136,600.
As a result, half or more of the mandarins working in departments such as the Treasury, the Department of Upgrading, Housing and Communities, and the Department of Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) are now in the top two pay brackets.
The Taxpayers Alliance has calculated that higher wages and a larger workforce have added £6bn to the public wage bill, rising from £9.7bn in 2016 to £15.5bn now.
An explosion at the top of civil servants amid rising work-from-home numbers, with many ministries still failing to attract more than six out of ten employees to the office.
Government data show that the average attendance rate of the Department of Excellence this year is 67 percent. The Treasury filled 65% of the positions, while DCMS filled 61% of the staff.
The Wales Office, which has the highest proportion of high-profile civil servants of any department in Whitehall, has just 52 percent of the lowest attendance rates in 2023.
The increase in the number of officials was linked to Brexit and the pandemic, which led to a significant increase in the workload in Whitehall.< /p>'Remove unnecessary assignments'
Last year, Boris Johnson, the former prime minister, promised reduce the civil service by 91,000 to pre-2016 levels, but Mr. Sunak quietly reversed that promise.
Sources insisted the government had saved £8bn by improving Whitehall's efficiency over the past two years.
Steve Barclay, health secretary, has led efforts to cut bureaucracy by firing one in six mandarins in his department since coming to power last year. .
John O'Connell, executive director of the Taxpayers Alliance, said: «The tax burden is at near-record levels and taxpayers are paying big bucks for the public sector employment boom.»
“Moreover, there is a growing perception that public services are worse than before they were hired, not better.
“Only after politicians start being honest about what can reasonably be expected from the government, will we we can wind down functions and get rid of unnecessary jobs.”
The Institute of Government think tank said that despite recent wage increases, wage cuts since 2010 mean that wages have fallen in real terms.
It was calculated earlier this year that Whitehall's salary is 12% lower at junior levels and 23% lower at senior positions than if they kept up with inflation.
A cabinet spokesman said: «As expected, during temporary and exceptional events such as the pandemic, the number of staff helping to fight Covid, including the world's leading vaccination program, is increasing.
«We are committed to efficiency and have generated nearly £8 billion in savings over the past two financial years.”
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