Recovery of public sector exit payments consultation launched by government
Consultation on plans to stop high paid public sector employees keeping redundancy payments when they return to the public sector within a short period of time.
Last month the government announced plans to stop high paid public sector employees keeping redundancy payments when they come back to the same part of the public sector within a short period of time.
HM Treasury is today launching a consultation, “Recovery of Public Sector Exit Payments”, on these proposals and will be seeking views on a number of areas including, the workforces in scope and compliance arrangements.
These provisions will mean individuals are not over-compensated and will ensure value for money for the tax payer. While many public sector organisations already have arrangements in place to prevent this, the proposals the government is consulting on will introduce for the first time a common position on clawbacks across the public sector.
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, said:
Taxpayers are rightly concerned when they hear of highly paid public sector employees leaving one job with a substantial pay off, only to return to the same or similar work in the public sector within a short time on a high salary. These measures will reduce the costs of this revolving door to make sure that taxpayers are getting value for money and also help protect frontline public services.
To ensure consistency and fairness across the board, the intention is to include the widest possible cross section of the public sector. The government has been clear that exceptions will be made for the Armed Forces, National Museums and some public financial corporations.
The consultation will close on 17 September 2014. The government will give careful consideration to the responses before taking a final decision.