28.10.13
Pay is ‘unacceptably high’ in the NHS, says Jeremy Hunt
Salaries in the NHS must be “appropriate and publicly justifiable”, health secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned as he seeks to cap the number of managers earning over £100,000.
He is targeting NHS quangos and agencies, as he cannot force pay rules on NHS trusts, and says he hopes this could help change the culture of pay, and thus influence hospital trusts to also assess their approach to salaries.
In a letter to the chief executives of eight arms length bodies, Hunt said: “We must not develop a culture where very high pay is normalised. I do not want the NHS to make the same mistakes as the BBC, where a culture of excessive pay and payoffs was tolerated for too long and damaged public confidence in one of our great national institutions.”
He added that while some high salaries are justified, they must be “the exception not the rule”.
48 people in quangos earn more than the prime minister, Hunt said, and is considering limiting the number of managers that can earn six figures or above. He also wants to ensure that the maximum pay level used to calculate redundancy packages is capped at £80,000 in the future.
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