Business group seeks an end to benchmarking

A LEADING business body last night criticised public service support for small firms as “abysmal” and demanded that benchmarking be replaced by performance-related pay.

ISME is to take its complaints to the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to try and “shame” ministers into reform.

The lobby group of small and medium employers insists a “bloated” public service is holding back the economy rather than supporting it.

Findings submitted to the Paris-based OECD, which is carrying-out out a study of the public sector, show the majority of ISME members believe State services have either worsened or stood still over the past five years.

The group wants increased accountability and heads of Government departments and State agencies subject to similar “reckless and fraudulent trading checks” which are imposed on businesses.

“A major concern is that, even with concrete evidence that the public sector is over-paid, over-manned, underworked and underperforming, a new benchmarking process is in the pipeline, which will continue to reward inefficiencies.

“This deeply flawed benchmarking process, due to report shortly, will once again cave-in to public sector union demands and grant excessive pay increases that will further widen the gap between the public and private sector,” said ISME chief executive Mark Fielding.

The submission to the OECD states that between 2000-2006 the public sector net pay bill increased by 87.5%, from €8.63bn to €16.2bn.

Of this increase, 41% was due to general pay increases, 22% due to special pay increases, like benchmarking, and 37% due to factors such as increased numbers, according to ISME.

The average public sector wage increased 46.9% between 2000 and 2006, while there was a 30.6% rise in inflation, the organisation said.

ISME members rated local authorities and the HSE as the least useful public sector bodies.