Special Advisers (Hansard, 16 November 1998)

§ Dr. Jack Cunningham

On coming into office, the Government implemented existing proposals for a pay structure for Special Advisers based on a single undifferentiated pay range (£24,349—£73,484). This arrangement, which made no distinctions based on level of responsibilities or duties and contained a system of performance pay to be determined by Ministers themselves, has proved unrealistic in practice.

I am today placing in the Libraries of the House details of a new pay structure for Special Advisers extending from £26,000 to £76,056 (the scale has been uprated by inflation) but with three bands. This is intended to provide a clear and coherent framework for Special Advisers' pay based on their role and responsibilities, and is based on the salaries of the permanent civil servants alongside whom they work. All Special Advisers will have moved to the new arrangement by 1 December 1998. There will be no performance pay.

The salaries of all Special Advisers as at 1 December 1998 are set out in the following table, in bands of £10,000:

£	Number of Advisers
10,001 to 20,000	1
20,001 to 30,000	14
30,001 to 40,000	19
40,001 to 50,000	13
50,001 to 60,000	10
60,001 to 70,000	7
70,001 to 80,000	3
80,001 to 90,000	0
90,001 to 100,000	2
100,001 to 110,000	1

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The highest paid Advisers are Keith Hellawell, Alastair Campbell and Jonathan Powell. Their salaries are outside the new three-band structure. Their salary arrangements will remain unchanged. They received a 2 per cent. increase from 1 April in line with other senior civil servants.

The average salary of Special Advisers under this Government is £45,378, compared with £46,421 under the last Government.

The move to the new arrangements will, for this year, take the place of the pay award for Special Advisers. The arrangements will be brought into place on a staged basis for departmental advisers. For future years, the intention is that the pay bands will be uprated in line with changes to the Senior Civil Service pay bands. In No. 10 there has been a restructuring of the roles and responsibilities of certain members of the Policy Unit and other Special Advisers in the light of the experience of the first year in Government. These new arrangements have been in place since 1 July 1998.

The estimate for the total pay bill for 1998–99 for Special Advisers, taking account of these changes, remains at £3.6 million, the figure given by the Prime Minister on 11 June 1998, Official Report, column 664.