Pay curbs with better public services
Gordon Brown presented his action plan: Putting the Front Line First: Smarter Government in a speech to the Institute for Government on 7 December 2009
The report included measures to deliver better public services at a lower cost. This involves providing more support to citizens in obtaining services, improving what they get and giving them the tools (e.g. online benchmarking services) to hold the government to account. Plans to pilot social impact bonds as a new form of funding positive social outcomes were announced along with the smarter use of community assets at the centre of civic life and the development of a barometer of civic participation through the Civic Health Index.
The model for the Social Investment Wholesale Bank is to be finalised with funding for its launch due to come from the Dormant Accounts Scheme (see news in Caritas, issue 14, January 2009). Alistair Darling in his Pre-Budget statement two days later announced an injection of £75m to get it going. The bank would supply funds to existing and emerging financial retailers (such as Charity Bank and Triodos), who would then provide finance packages to charities. However Stuart Etherington of NCVO and Jon Low of CAF, while acknowledging this is a ‘useful first step’, made the point more would need to be done by the government to find other ways of capitalising the bank going forward.
The Prime Minister also announced pay curbs on senior executives in public sector bodies, observing: ‘It cannot be right that taxpayers fund 300 local authority officials who have salaries over £150,000, or that in total over 300 staff across public sector bodies are paid more than £200,000.’
Author: Clarissa Dann
Clarissa Dann was the editor of Caritas as well as an HR and management online service,he People Bulletin until July 2011.
She is now the editor of the specialist trade finance magazine, Trade and Forfaiting Review which can be viewed at www.tfreview.com but does write on charity finance and investment from time to time.
Clarissa has a background in legal and professional publishing, as well as business journalism and holds an MBA from
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