MoD salary bill soars despite 1,600 job losses

Staff costs at the Ministry of Defence have increased under the Coalition despite 1,600 jobs having gone, the Evening Standard can reveal today.

The MoD's pay bill was £7.2 million higher in January than in May last year - a further example of how spending at the department is proving almost impossible to control.

The cost of pay, pension and National Insurance contributions at last May was £193.7 million for 67,559 civil servants. But eight months into the life of the Government the pay bill rose to £201 million as the number of staff dropped to 65,955.

The rise in staff costs - revealed in Freedom of Information requests by the Standard - came as defence ministers grappled with eight per cent budget cuts.

Thousands of soldiers, sailors and airmen are losing their jobs while the Harrier jump jet and Nimrod reconnaissance planes are being scrapped, and the Ark Royal aircraft carrier decommissioned. But ministers are desperately seeking another £1 billion in cuts to balance next year's budget.

Officials said there were a "number of factors" responsible for the increased staff costs, including the final year of pre-agreed wage rises before a freeze kicks in for 2011/12.

They also blamed the complex make-up of MoD civilian staff, which includes teachers, police and medical staff, and the higher costs of weekend and holiday working in December. Emma Boon, campaign director at the Taxpayers' Alliance, said the rising costs showed a lack of efficiency. "It's really worrying for taxpayers that the pay bill has shot up at the MoD at a time when the department should be trying to get spending under control."

The MoD was one of three departments that saw staff costs rise despite job losses, according to the Freedom of Information responses.

The others were Eric Pickles's Department for Communities and Local Government, where costs rose by almost £439,000 as staff numbers fell by 12, and Andrew Lansley's health department where costs increased by £17,080 despite 29 job losses.

Officials put this down to "built-in pay increases" and a "change in the mix" of civil servants at different pay grades. Across 12 other departments salary bills fell by more than £22 million as staff numbers were cut by 10,768.

Only Chris Huhne's Department of Energy and Climate Change saw staff numbers increase, with 136 extra civil servants on the payroll. Officials said this was "in line with targets and budgets agreed in the spending review".