Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, how many of the Law Officers Departments' staff had a pay increase (a) above one per cent, (b) at one per cent and (c) less than one per cent in each of the last three years for which information is available.

The information requested is detailed in the following tables.

¹ Based on staff in post as at 31 August in each of the past three years.

In relation to the CPS:

• In each of the three years the average pay awards were limited to up to 1% in line with the government’s framework from which all departments have set their pay arrangements.

In relation to the GLD, AGO and HMCPSI:

• The pay award in 2014 provided all staff with a 1% pay award although a number received part of this as a non-consolidated sum because they were on or near their grade maximum and a small number had a retained contractual entitlement to a specific pay award of more than 1% from a previous department.

• The 2015 and 2016 pay awards provided staff with a cash sum based on 1% of the average salary for their grade. The outcome provided an award of greater than 1% for those who were at the lower end of their pay range and less than 1% for those at the upper end.

• GLD also took the opportunity in 2016 to review and update the pay structure for Legal Trainees and Legal Officers, resulting in a higher than 1% award in that year as individual’s moved to the new structure (30 people benefitted in this way).

In relation to the SFO:

• For the 2014 pay award the SFO paid all eligible staff an award of either £350 or 1%. Ineligible staff were those already earning in excess of their pay-band maximum, those staff who were deemed as not effective and those staff who had joined the SFO after 31 January 2014.

• In 2015, the SFO sought and obtained Treasury and AGO approval to convert 0.5% of the accrued bonus pot to fund increases to base pay for the more junior digital forensic and investigator roles. This was to help with retention and recruitment of staff in those roles which had been identified as a business need. At the same time the SFO introduced a performance pay matrix which allowed for strong performers near to the bottom of their pay-band to receive a larger increase than those in the middle and top of the band. Eligibility criteria were the same as for 2014 – with the cut-off date for new staff being 31 January 2015.

• In April 2016 the SFO introduced a new pay model, also approved by Treasury and the Attorney General, which created separate specialist pay-bands for corporate, operational and digital staff to again further improve the recruitment/retention position with key operational roles. This allowed for a further significant base pay increases for staff in digital and investigative roles at all grades. The annual pay award in August 2016 followed the same approach as for 2015.