Public sector pay: The number of people employed in the public sector is set to rise by about 2,000 next year, despite a Government commitment to cut numbers, writes Cliff Taylor.
The Department of Finance estimates that 286,000 people will be employed on average in the public sector next year, with the extra number in the health service and education.
The cost of the public sector pay bill is set to rise by just over €1 billion next year to €15.2 billion. This accounts for 47 per cent of the overall increase in current spending on providing Government services announced as part of the Estimates.
The Department of Finance estimates that the additional staff in health and education will cost the exchequer between €130 million and €150 million next year. The rest of the increase in the pay bill is due to the general pay round under Sustaining Progress, which will cost more than €500 million, a €170 million bill from the last phase of benchmarking and a similar amount for normal annual increments.
In the 2003 Budget, the then Minister, Mr McCreevy, said public sector numbers would be reduced by 5,000 over the next three years. The numbers had risen by 50,000 in the previous five years and the Government committed to stopping this rise. Presenting yesterday's Estimates for 2005, Mr McCreevy's successor, Mr Cowen, said this target "hasn't been abandoned".
He said he expected Ministers to come forward with proposals to reduce staff in other areas, to compensate for the increase in front-line staff in the health and education sectors. However achievement of the objective of actually reducing numbers now appears most unlikely.