Reports circulating in the national press recently suggest that many Whitehall staff may be in line for substantial pay increases. The Senior Salaries Review Body is due to report next month and will present the government with another thorny issue, following hard on the heels of the recent large rises of senior members of the government.

The objective is reported to be an attempt to narrow the pay gap between highly skilled civil servants and comparable officials working in the private sector. This may seem a somewhat dubious effort as terms and conditions are widely different and many senior staff have deliberatly chosen a career in the Civil Service because of the position and status which it confers. However, one benefit may be that more people working in the private sector may opt to spend part of their career in the public sector and help to raise overall standards by transferring more modern practices.

Senior civil servants will be elligible for a bonus scheme which could take the top pay for a few officials as high as £200,000.