Debbie Simpson - Thanks, I'll have that 10% pay rise
If you are interested, the post title is a quote from Julian Casablancas.
Some of you may be aware that the new Police and Crime Commissioners have the power to grant Chief Constables pay rises of up to 10% above the rates their post received last October. This was one of the recommendations from Tom Winsor. The idea was that to attract the best leaders you may have to pay more.
Another of Winsor's recommendations was, of course, to reduce the starting pay of new recruits by £4000 or 20%. He wants to improve the standard of new recruits but apparently you can do that by reducing pay in the case of the 'grunts' at the lower echelons.
Debbie Simpson has just been appointed Chief Constable of Dorset. She was already doing the job in an acting capacity. She wasn't going anywhere else. She would have been happy with her £133K salary and a five year contract.
Martyn Underhill, the PCC for Dorset, has decided to give her the full 10% pay increase that is within his power, bringing her salary up to £146K. His decision has been questioned by the Panel that monitors his work and he has defended his decision claiming he needed to offer the extra money to get the right quality applicants.
Our Chief Officers are clambering all over each other to climb the greasy pole and do not need any more incentives. As for good leaders, it is our Chief Officers who are responsible for chasing pointless targets and ignoring real crime and criminals. It is our Chief Officers who sold their integrity to the media chasing spin and good news stories. It is our Chief Officers who have failed to show leadership while the Government and Winsor pulls apart and destroys the police service, the only part of our justice system of any effect.
At a time when almost everyone is suffering from increased costs of living and falling pay, and police officers in particular are having their salaries and pensions decimated what sort of example is this? Martyn Underhill is an idiot who clearly has no political or moral sense at all. If Debbie Simpson has any decency or any real leadership skills she will refuse the pay increase. I won't hold my breath though.
Your penultimate para says it all!
ReplyDeleteIMHO the pay is not excessive and nothing is revealed with respect to any competition Ms Simpson may have faced in securing her appointment, lex.
ReplyDeleteSeneca is granite on greed. 'A man who desires more is poorer than he satisfied with little.'
IMHO melv our so called 'top' people are paying themselves far too much. Over the last 20 years or so we have followed the American model where we keep upping pay for top executives in what we are told is a competitive market. This is nonsense particularly in a closed public sector.
ReplyDeleteIn most of Europe few executives earn more than £100K. There is still some moral code left along the lines that it is obscene for the top people to be earning more than 10 times that of the lowest paid worker. I don't see the German economy, for example, collapsing as a result of this.
The PCC's argument that there was only two applicants for Deputy Chief Constable whereas there were four applicants for the Chief Constable at the higher salary is an insult to our intelligence. Dorset is a small force and will never attract a large number of candidates. The top job is obviously more attractive than second fiddle.
Debbie Simpson was already acting Chief Constable. The thought that she or the others would not have applied at the lower salary is pretty weak. Why wasn't it advertised at the normal rate and then if there were insufficient applicants try advertising at the higher rate. Having said that would I want someone who was only interested in the job for another 10%?
Maggie Thatcher kept you sweet then Blair & Brown followed on, now Cameron is unwilling to have less than productive goons given a higher wage than nurses, doctors, teachers.
ReplyDeletein the current climate, when some public servants are facing the sack, pay freezes or pay cuts a 10% rise is DISGUSTING
ReplyDeletethough perhaps not quite as revolting as the 30% asked by MPs
I dunno- do we not learn anything?