Whitehall anger at pay plan

CIVIL servants are in revolt over a new pay and assessment scheme which, they claim, brands one in ten a failure, however hard they work.

Discontent with the scheme was a key factor behind a twoday strike last month by tens of thousands of public servants.

And the High Court is to rule in the autumn on a union claim that the 'performance development system' breaches employment terms.

Under the scheme, 10% of each department's workforce will be labelled as 'seriously underperforming', blighting their career prospects and depriving them of bonuses.

Until this year, civil servants were assessed individually, regardless of their colleagues' performance. But under the new scheme, at least 10% have to 'fail' every year. Above them, a further 40% have to be graded as no better than average.

'No matter how well individuals do in their personal appraisals, half of all staff will achieve poor results,' a union official complained.