In its 2010 general election manifesto (external website), the Conservative Party says that if elected, it would:
- Require national and local public bodies to publish the salaries and expenses of senior officials paid more than the lowest salary permissible in Pay Band 1 of the Senior Civil Service pay scale (this is currently £58,200 a year);
- Implement a public sector pay freeze for one year in 2011, excluding the one million lowest-paid workers;
- Cap public sector pensions above £50,000 (George Osborne announced this in October 2009, see Nigel Stanley's comments on the TUC website);
- Work with the trade unions, businesses and others to address the growing disparity between public and private sector pensions, while protecting accrued rights;
- Keep the national minimum wage (but nothing said about what it might be worth in the future);
- "Force equal pay audits on any company found to be discriminating on the basis of gender" (going on past statements on the Conservative Party website, this means employers that have lost an employment tribunal case on equal pay);
- Link GPs pay to the "quality of their results";
- Give all headteachers the power to pay good teachers more;
- Require any public sector employee paid more than the Prime Minister to have their salary signed off by the Treasury;
- Give councillors the power to vote on large salary packages for council officials;
- "reinvigorating occupational pensions" and working with employers and industry to support auto-enrolment into pensions;
- Cut government ministers' pay by 5% then freeze it for five years;
- Consult with the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority on how to "move away" from the final salary pension scheme for MPs;
- Give the Bank of England the power to "crack down on risky bonus arrangements";
- Abolish the Agricultural Wages Board, which sets minimum wages and other terms and conditions for agricultural workers (who would still be covered by the national minimum wage if this was abolished);
- Restore the link between average earnings and the state pension (no date given);
- Hold a review to bring forward the date at which the state pension age starts to rise to 66, but it will not be earlier than 2016 for men and 2020 for women (consultants Towers Watson have a briefing on their website about this).
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