Bowler hats and bureaucrats - dispelling the myths about the public sector workforce

The TUC today challenges the commonly held opinion that the public services are stuffed full of bowler hats and bureaucrats and that job cuts can be made without there being a negative impact upon public services. A new TUC report published today (Friday) shows that the public sector operates with far fewer managers than the private sector.

íBowler hats and bureaucrats - myths about the public sector workforceí, says that politicians claim that big savings can be made by axing thousands of civil service and other public sector managerial posts, and that this would deliver services more efficiently. Yet by analysing official statistics, the report says that private sector managers are responsible for six staff on average, in the public sector they are responsible for 14 staff.

According to the Labour Force Survey, the private sectorís three million managers are responsible for 17.5 million members of staff. Almost a fifth (17.5 per cent) of employees in the private sector are managers, compared to less than one in ten (7.5 per cent) in the public sector. This equates to roughly one manager for every six employees. However, the public sector has just 0.5 million managers on its payroll, in charge of around 6.8 million workers, with each manager responsible for 14 staff.

íBowler hats and bureaucratsí also demolishes the argument that the UK is becoming a high tax, high spend economy, which is making the UK uncompetitive compared to the rest of the world. Last year the UK ranked joint 18th out of 28 international economies in terms of government spending and taxation.

The Governmentís Gershon Efficiency Review has identified 20 billion in possible cuts that could be made to the civil service, which would see 70,000 jobs going from central government departments. However, the TUC report estimates that savings of some 18 billion could be made in public procurement and through the better use of technology, without having to cut a single post.

íBowler hats and bureaucratsí is critical of the Tory James Review that has proposed cuts of some 33 billion, with a loss of 235,000 civil service jobs, 90,000 of which would be privatised. Such severe cuts, says the report, would make it impossible for the public sector to either continue to manage public expenditure or deliver services efficiently.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: Public servants have become easy targets for some politicians. They want us to believe two things about the public services that are both wrong. First that you can make easy cuts to management and bureaucrats, without having any effect on public service delivery.

Second that there is an easy distinction between front line- staff who are all wonderful, and backroom staff who are a drag on the system. And whatís worse, in the next breath they will tell us that teachers should be given the time to teach and policemen the time to catch criminals, which of course they couldnít do if they had to take over the vital support tasks done by the so-called bureaucrats they want to sack.

And what takes the biscuit is that politicians keep going to the finance sector for advice on these issues when the figures clearly show they employ more managers and bureaucrats than almost anyone else.

íBowler hats and bureaucrats - myths about the public sector workforceí says that:

The private sector has more so-called íbureaucratic jobsí than the public sector, nearly a third (30 per cent) of employees in the private sector are managers or administrators compared to only just over a quarter in the public sector (26 per cent) The public sector has a much leaner management structure than the private sector, even taking into account workplace size. One might assume the private sector needs more managers because it has more small workplaces to manage but managers in private sector workplaces with more than 250 employees accounted for nearly a fifth of the workforce (18.7 per cent) compared to less than one in ten in the public sector (9.6 per cent) Public administration employs more professional workers than admin staff. Financial services in the private sector, which includes the City, employs more admin workers than public administration.