DWP's Harley tops government CIO pay list

Nine government IT managers earn more than the prime minister, according to information released by the BBC. Joe Harley, IT director general and chief information officer (CIO) for the Department for Work and Pensions, and John Suffolk, Cabinet Office CIO, have average salaries of £262,500 and £207,499 respectively. They are …

[Guy Herbert]

Average of one?

Maybe it is just me, but is anyone else puzzled by the reference to the average salary of a single official? Does it mean they had one or more pay increases (I cannot believe any public sector salaries have been cut except ministers') in the year, so that these figures do not in fact answer the naive question "How much is X paid?" but in fact hint that they are currently paid a bit more than that? Would that be inclusive of bonuses?

[Red Bren]

More context required

How do these salaries compare with those in private sector organisations of equivalent size and complexity? The CBI and Institute of Directors constantly justify huge boardroom salaries on the grounds that you have to pay top dollar to get the best people. The public sector is constantly encouraged to emulate the private sector but when it does, it gets crucified for it.

[Mudslinger]

The title is required, and must contain letters and/or digits.

<quote> Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister responsible for reducing the public sector pay bill, told the BBC he questioned the rising salaries in the wider public sector and the idea that they were necessary to attract qualified people.</quote>

And yet ever increasing remuneration packages are essential if the private sector is to attract the best.

Which means that all the talent will be in the private sector, public services will fail and will have to be privatised and then, because they are now private sector, wages will be permitted to rise for those at the top while, as ever, the people who do the actual work will be tightening their belts even further

[Velv]

MPs pay

Pay for MPs was introduced to ensure everyone had equal access to stand for Parliament. In other words, to stop Parliament from being filled with the idle rich who had nothing better to do, and to allow the working classes to have their say.

MPs pay is NOT a reflection of the role, as let's face it, every single MP is in it for the fame and publicity, not for the money - nobody as a kid sits and looks at jobs and says "I'm going to be an MP as they're paid lots for doing nothing"

This whole whoo-ha is media spin over a non-issue.

[exexpat]

hmmm not true - there are in it for the ego trip first

MPs pay is NOT a reflection of the role, as let's face it, every single MP is in it for the fame and publicity, not for the money

hmmm not true - there are in it for the ego trip first then the huge amount of money they can get afterwards using the connections they have made. Thats why camerons 5% pay cut is just a PR move.

[John Tserkezis]

Complaints?

Let's see how well the PM functions as an IT manager...

They tried their hand here in Australia, and think it's a good idea to create a fibre to the home network at x5+ the cost it was done in other countries.

Then they invent a super secret internet filter that removes normal porn, casino sites and R rating games sites (as well as a dentist just in case he tried something funny).

Seriously, if a corporate flavoured IT manager tried that here, he'd find his brake lines cut courtesy of their local BOFH.

[There's a bee in my bot net]

Meh...

No government worker should be paid more than twice the national average.

After all I've spent enough time in higher education to be a doctor just to earn less than the national average in IT I don't see why I should shoulder such outlandish salaries for public servants.

Also if we need to pay this much to 'attract talent' and that talent is mostly a bunch of assholes we might as well hire cheap assholes...

[Anonymous Coward]

Phil Pavitt at HMRC

That would be the same Phil Pavitt that when you Google his name, the first result you get is: "Top TfL manager probed over 'cash for jobs' allegation".

[Anonymous Coward]

£262,500 for...

"...Joe Harley, IT director general ... ... Department for Work and Pensions"

Surely not the same DWP that takes three months to move someone from one benefit to another that pays *exactly* the same amount per week? The one that was responsible for the jobcentreplus website (where you can't even bookmark a page or safely use the back button?)

If an unqualified shelf stacker working in their back bedroom using Notepad can deliver a few pages of static text more competently, shouldn't Mr Harley's pay be more in line with theirs rather than that of someone who is supposed to have a clue?

[Toothpick]

It's media spin..

designed to get the Daily Fail readers into a lather.

I don't imagine that the PM's only source of income is his parliamentary salary.