This report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development urges Ministers and senior officials to find the courage to make greater use of performance related pay and bonuses in the public sector, not less, if they want to maximise value for the taxpayer while also driving through substantial public service reform.

The report, Coping with Less: Pay and Pensions in the Public Sector, highlights statistics showing that expectations of how employees’ pay should be determined varies dramatically between public and private sector workers. Only a third of public sector employees believe they should be paid based on how well they personally perform, compared to three fifths of their private sector counterparts.

This view is reinforced by the finding that only 6 per cent of public sector workers see the performance of their organisation as an appropriate factor in determining their pay, compared to 35 per cent of private sector workers.

The report calls for urgent reform of public sector pensions, to address analysis in the report which reveals that for every £1 contributed by public sector employees outside of local government, to their pensions, the taxpayer contributes £3.39. It urges more regional flexibility in public sector pay to take into account variations in labour market conditions and cost of living in different parts of the country.

Coping with Less: Pay and Pensions in the Public Sector is available from the CIPD. http://www.cipd.co.uk