Editorial Comment: Mind the salaries gap

The pay gap between senior managers and frontline staff touched a raw nerve with readers last week. You said – almost unanimously – that it was too wide in our poll.

Many senior managers in the public sector are on fat cat salaries and this gap is also evident within social work, with directors earning four times the pay of social workers. Despite theoretically being on the same, sub-inflation pay deal, directors benefit from local discretion, bonuses and regional allowances.

While there is a need for larger salaries to be more strongly linked to performance, we must recognise that directors do a difficult job. Excellent leadership is vital.

The real problem lies with low pay. While councils await the capability to better reward experience and ability on the frontline, they could use their local discretion to improve social work pay generally. Failure to address the pay gap now will lead to confrontation later.

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Contact the author
Mike Broad

How do we tackle the pay gap? E-mail simeon.brody@rbi.co.uk. The best proposal, as judged by the editor, will win a Christmas hamper.