Managing Public Money

Helping public sector managers get value for money from their budgets

Blog | Managing Public Money | financial management training for public sector and charity managers

A blog about public financial management: the fine art of managing public money to deliver vital services to the public. It involves budgeting, accounting, controlling, auditing, reporting, policy-making and decision-taking.

March 21, 2011

Fair's fair

March 21, 2011/ Gary Bandy

I have long been aware that there can be a bug difference between what one is paid and what one has earned so I found this article by Will Hutton very interesting. In particular, I was intrigued by his candour that the review he undertook was set up to look into the 20:1 ratio of pay as a "social norm". Clearly, Will Hutton concluded that the ratio was arbitrary and practically irrelevant since it would apply to only 70 out of 6,000,000 public sector posts and therefore very unlikely ever to be accepted as a norm. And I'm pleased that he has had the independence to set out such conclusions regardless of what the government had hoped the review might result in. It gives one a little bit of faith about the way the UK is governed.