The Live Wire



Press Release

Hutton Review

15 March 2011

Commenting on the Hutton Review of Fair Pay in the public sector, Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers' union, said;

“We welcome Hutton's acknowledgement of the importance of the public service ethos, the need for fair reward and his recognition that an organisation's success is the result of the collective efforts of the whole workforce. Hutton is wrong, however, to advocate performance-related pay for senior staff. PRP distorts pay structures, undermining fairness and teamwork by introducing subjective pay decisions that in education would depend on the budgetary position of the school rather than on objective factors.

“The NUT agrees that there needs to be greater transparency when setting pay for all school leaders, to avoid any inconsistencies which may occur. In the light of the Government's obsession with pushing forward the academies and Free Schools programme this is a strong argument for maintaining the present national framework for teachers' pay.

“Thankfully arbitrary pay caps such as the Prime Minister's salary have been kicked into the long grass. The myth of exorbitant salaries paid to public sector executives is also laid to rest in this report; Hutton makes clear that in the last decade this is a trend more reflective of the private sector. As the coalition government goes further down the route of privatising the public sector this is something they need to take heed of.

“The great concern over public sector accountability is nonsense. Workers in the public sector, whether at the bottom or the top, have always been held responsible for their actions and productivity. Local Authorities answer to many different bodies, including the general public, and there is far greater transparency than will ever be achieved should the private sector take over many of their functions.”



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National Union of Teachers

National Union of Teachers

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