Letter: Move civil service

Published on 10/04/2012 00:00

LIKE a lot of civil servants up here, I was aghast at the UK government’s proposal to introduce regional pay, whereby civil servants on the same grade and doing the same job are to be paid a lower rate in Wales, the north of England and Scotland, compared with London and the South-east (your report, 9 April).

There is already a London weighting allowance in existence, which itself is open to question.

As MSP Mike Weir suggests, surely the fairest approach for the UK as a whole is to move civil service jobs out of the South-east, to areas of the country where recruiting quality staff is not a problem.

In the short term, it would boost local economies in less well-off areas. In the long run, it would reduce the cost of the civil service.

W Mathers

Craigmount Gardens

Edinburgh