Civil servants earning over £60,000 per annum: publication of salary bands (P.71/2010) – comments.

STATES OF JERSEY

CIVIL SERVANTS EARNING OVER £60,000 PER ANNUM: PUBLICATION OF SALARY BANDS (P.71/2010) – COMMENTS

Presented to the States on 6th July 2010 by the Chief Minister

STATES GREFFE

2010   Price code: A  P.71 Com.

COMMENTS

1. Where the States Employment Board believes that there is a clear public interest that information should be published, it will do so. That is why it has recently agreed that the salary levels of officers with salaries of more than £100,000 per annum should be published. Further, the States will be aware that information on the earnings of higher-paid States employees is published each  year  in the  Financial  Report  and  Accounts  and  the  supplementary information issued by the States Employment Board (please see page 46 of the 2009  Financial  Report  and  Accounts  and  R.70/2010 –  States  Employees Remuneration: 2009 Report'.) Appendix B of R.70/2010, which is attached in the Appendix to these Comments, gives remuneration details of employees in remuneration bands from £70,000 upwards. These are broadly equivalent to salaries of £60,000 per annum upwards once pension contribution is excluded. However, the Board believes that the present proposition is not proportionate in this respect.
2. The Board  cannot  support  the  proposal  that  the  personal  names  of  each employee  earning  over  £60,000  should  be  published  as  requested  in the proposition, nor that the personal details of any enhancements to basic salaries be published. To do so would seriously undermine those individuals' rights to privacy; strain the implied contractual duty of mutual trust and confidence between  employer  and  employee;  and  have  serious  implications  for employees' rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights  and  the  First  Data  Protection  Principle  (in  that  it would  result  in disclosure of personal data of less senior officers who maintain a greater expectation of privacy than those at Chief Officer/Director levels).
3. However, being constructive, and as an alternative to what is being sought in the proposition, the States Employment Board would propose to publish, in bands of £5,000, by department, the numbers of staff who have salaries of over £60,000. Any salary enhancements over and above normal contractual terms will be included in the assessment of salary for reporting purposes. The Board  suggests  that  this  would  meet  the  objectives  which  lie behind  the proposition whilst safeguarding the statutory and contractual rights of staff to privacy.
4. The States Employment Board urges States Members to reject this proposition but accept the alternative offer of the States Employment Board.

APPENDIX

STATES OF JERSEY 2009 REMUNERATION* TRADING AND NON-TRADING DEPARTMENTS

Over- all

total

325

113

56

Page - 3

P.71/2010 Com.

Over- all

total

24

23 9

2 0

2 2 556

Note:

*Figures include Employer's pension costs.