The government’s wage bill has spiralled over the past five years - possibly by as much as £45m.

Figures have been released in a delayed written response to a question from last month’s Tynwald sitting.

They show that the salary bill for government departments increased from £240,980,109 in 2016-17 to £272,855,202 in the 12 months up to August 2020.

The current year’s figure is £261,727,250 - but this is just for the 11 months between September 2020 and July this year.

This would suggest that the wage bill for the full 12 months would be about £286m, a rise of £45m in five years.

The number of staff employed by government departments has also risen by more than 350, from 7,520 in 2016-17 to 7,878 this year.

These figures, which include Manx Care but not the statutory boards, fly in the face of pledges by successive administrations for ’smaller, smarter’ government.

There are supposed to be strict budgetary controls on overall staff costs.

This approach replaced the headcount cap or personnel control mechanism (PCM) which had been in place since 1991 but was suspended by the previous Council of Ministers in 2015.

The impact of suspending the PCM was debated at the June Tynwald with members supporting a motion by Julie Edge calling for a Council of Ministers review of the situation.

Ms Edge, who is one of five candidates contesting the Onchan seat in the general election on September 23, told Tynwald that costs were ’out of control’.

She said: ’I believe this is where the change in policy has continued to cost the Manx taxpayer with increased pension and increased salary costs. There is no control.’

Tynwald was told that the PCM was established by the Council of Ministers in 1991 at a time when the island was experiencing unprecedented growth, and in response to concerns that a 16.6% increase in the public sector workforce over the previous four-year period was unsustainable.

A major review in 2005-06 found that some departments were creating fixed-term appointments or contract posts to circumvent the need to secure ministers’ approval.

The new system which replaced PCM ring-fenced salary costs rather than personnel numbers.

Tynwald was told that some of the increase in employee numbers was directly linked to the Health Transformation project and climate change initiatives.

The latest government audited accounts show that the total number of public sector employees earning more than £50,000 has increased sharply from 1,207 in 2018-19 to 1,436 in 2019-20.

There are now three earning between £325,000 and £349,999.

In the last administration, led by Allan Bell between 2011 and 2016, the number in the government workforce was cut by 10%, or 825 people.

The other candidates standing in Onchan are Rob Callister, Michael Leather, James Cherry and Peter Willers..

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