Civil service pay has been frozen yet the wage bill remains the same as it was 10 years ago. Time to clear out the dead wood and boost the pay of top talent, says Henry Hill

It’s all so predictable. The previous government froze civil service pay to try and control costs as headcount ballooned.

Result? According to new analysis from the Institute for Government, over the past decade the number of middle-managers has doubled, as bosses use early promotion as a carrot to try and prevent staff from quitting.

Thus, the pay bill is pretty much the same as it was a decade ago and almost £2bn more than it would have been had the grade structure remained the same as it was then. Well played, Sir Humphrey.

‘Grade inflation’ also means that each department now effectively has its own hierarchy........

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