DHSC SSRB remit letter: 2021 pay round
Published 17 February 2021
Applies to England
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Dr Martin Read CBE
Chair, Senior Salaries Review Body
Office of Manpower Economics
8th Floor Fleetbank House
2–6 Salisbury Square
London
EC4Y 8JX
Dear Dr Read,
I am writing firstly to thank you for the valuable work the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) provide and the observations made within the latest report regarding senior managers in the health and care sector.
The timing of the Spending Review announcement has unfortunately delayed the commencement of pay round 2021 to 2022. I am writing now to set out how the Department of Health and Social Care proposes working with the SSRB in relation to the 2021 to 2022 pay round and to formally begin the Review Body process.
As you are aware, following the SSRB’s 2020 report, its terms of reference have now been formally expanded to include all very senior managers (VSMs) within the NHS and executive and senior managers (ESMs) within the Department of Health and Social Care’s arm’s length bodies (ALBs).
As this is the first year of the SSRB’s expanded remit group, I am asking you to build on the work of the previous round and to use your expertise across senior public sector pay more broadly to make observations on the current levels of VSM and ESM pay. I hope this will then form a baseline for pay recommendations in future years.
You will have seen that the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that pay rises in the public sector will be restrained and targeted in 2021 to 2022 at the Spending Review. As the Chancellor set out, COVID-19 is significantly impacting the economy, labour market and the fiscal position and has supressed earnings growth and increased redundancies in the private sector.
HM Treasury will set out the fiscal and economic context in more detail as the round progresses and it is within this context that I request your observations are made when considering what appropriate levels of pay are for senior managers in the health and care sector along with what is needed to recruit, retain and motivate the senior manager workforce and what represents value for the taxpayer.
It is important to state that although I am not seeking a pay recommendation for this group for the year 2021 to 2022, this work will play a key role in positioning senior health manager pay for future years.
We are hoping to expediate the process as much as possible this year and would welcome your report in early May 2021.
Yours ever,
Matt Hancock
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care