The Isle of Man has seen a significant and continuing rise in the number of top-earning government employees, a trend that has persisted despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent cost of living crises, largely caused by high-spending governments across the world.
According to a new and updated analysis by the Manx TaxPayers’ Alliance, based entirely on government financial records dating back a decade, there’s been a stark increase in the number of government workers taking home over £50,000. The figures have jumped from 834 in the financial year 2013-14 to an astonishing 2,202 in the 2022-23 financial year, the most recent year for which data are available.
In addition, the IOM Government revealed that the number of staff earning over £100,000 per annum has approximately doubled over the last decade, from 119 in the 2013-14 financial year to 234 in the 2022-23 financial year. While the Isle of Man Government says that the national GDP fell by more than 8% during the Covid-devastated year of 2020-21, there was no such fall in highly paid Government staff, with big increases in every pay bracket reported in the Government accounts.
The financial accounts for the year ending 31 March 2023 revealed that the Isle of Man Government says that it now has its first staff member who received over half a million pounds in a year.
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The number of Government staff earning over £300,000 has ballooned in recent years, with only one staff member being paid over £300,000 in each of the 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 years. Since then, however, the numbers have blown out to 10 staff in the 2021-22 year and 16 in the 2022-23 year.
£100k salaries multiply like rabbits
The number of Isle of Man Government staff earning over £100,000 roughly doubled in the period from the 2013-14 financial year to the 2023-23 financial year. The Isle of Man Government disclosed that there were 119 staff earning over £100,000 in the 2013-14 financial year, and 234 such staff in the 2022-23 financial year. During the 2020-21 financial year, when highly paid staff in the Isle of Man Cabinet Office caused multiple lockdowns due to their errors, the number of Government staff earning over £100,000 increased by 9.2% from the pre-Covid year.
There is a season for all things, but in the IOM Government, every season is a time for the number of highly-paid Government staff to increase
“This analysis shows that the numbers of highly-paid Government staff have surged during economic boom times. The numbers have surged during times of economic recession. The numbers have surged when inflation is low, and the numbers have surged when inflation is high. The numbers of highly paid Government staff surged during Covid, and the numbers surged as Covid faded. They say that there’s a season for all things, but in the Isle of Man Government, every season is a time for the number of highly paid Government staff to increase,” said Michael Josem of the Manx TaxPayers’ Alliance.
Pension payments are extra
According to the Isle of Man Government accounts, the figures reported here “include gross pay amounts as remuneration (including compensation payments made in connection with their employment) but exclude employers’ contributions (for example, employers’ pension contributions), settlement payments, and compromise agreements”. In addition to the gross pay reported here, the Isle of Man Government offers a “rewarding pension scheme” to staff. The Isle of Man Government pension scheme, which offers defined benefits to recipients, is worth many thousands of pounds extra in value to staff.
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