Ofcom leads the way with pay freezes and bonus cuts
In a surprising development it has been announced that telecoms regulator Ofcom has frozen pay levels for all staff and scrapped a number of bonuses which will save £900,000 in the coming year. The move has arisen because of negative inflation, pressure on the public sector budget and overall cost cuts across the telecoms industry. After months and months of suggesting that UK businesses should cut costs and control wage inflation, it seems as though the government has finally found a leader that the rest can follow.
When you consider the plight of Ofcom against the ever-increasing wage bill and bonus payments afforded to the FSA we are seeing literally two different ends of the spectrum. While the FSA may be in a slightly different situation because of an increase in regulatory staff and regulatory powers there is still concern regarding above inflation wage rises and significant bonus payments despite what many people believe to be significant shortfalls on the regulatory front over the last few years.
This move by Ofcom will place further pressure on the government to instigate significant cost-cutting, wage freezes and bonus reductions in the public sector, which continues to demand more and more taxpayer's money.
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