Pay and the Public Service Workforce

Article

This report analyses the level of growth in the public sector workforce and levels of public sector pay.

Some of the most important political battles that continue to be fought between the main political parties concern the quality of public spending.

Labour has argued that a combination of fiscal discipline, sound macro-economic management and effective labour market policies has 'cut the costs of failure', leaving more resources available to meet public service priorities.

The Conservative response is partly to claim credit for a sound basis for the public finances, and partly to claim that the new spending on public services is being wasted on recruiting 'bureaucrats' and funding excessive public sector pay awards.

This report aims to get to the bottom of this debate.

Related items

  1. Women coworking in office, looking at computer screens displaying code, collaborating on project using multimodal AI chatbot technology in software development

    Locked in: A realist's agenda for digital sovereignty

    Digital sovereignty has never been more urgent.
  2. A man stands on a tram during the day holding his phone and wearing headphones

    Empowering people to hold tech accountable

    We need reform to remove structural barriers to people and civil society taking direct action against tech companies in UK courts – putting more power in the hands of people.
  3. The Home Office building in London

    Earned settlement: Decision time

    The government is imminently due to announce plans for a new model of ‘earned settlement’. These are expected to represent the most significant reforms to indefinite leave to remain in a generation.