Catalogue description Records of the Pay Board

The Pay Board was an independent agency set up under the Counter-Inflation Act 1973 as part of the Government's counter-inflation policy, as stated in its White Paper, The Programme for Controlling Inflation: The Second Stage (Cmnd 5205).

Stage Two of the pay policy began on 1 April 1973 when the Price and Pay Code was published, and the Pay Board began work on 2 April 1973.

The Board's functions were to ensure that the provisions of the Price and Pay Code that concerned remuneration were implemented and to advise on any questions relating to remuneration referred to it by ministers.

The Board consisted of not less than five and not more than twelve members. The staff were organised in two main divisions: one being responsible for work on implementing the Code; the other for the Board's advisory functions.

On 14 May 1973 the Board opened eight units in England and one in both Scotland and Wales, to be followed shortly by a further unit in Northern Ireland. These assisted the main Board in London in providing information and advice about the Pay Code, reporting of settlements and keeping records, together with spot checks on records and audit of settlements.

To enable the Board to carry out its first function the Secretary of State for Employment made two Orders, the Counter-Inflation (Notification of Increase in Remuneration) Order 1973 and the Counter-Inflation (Returns and Records of Remuneration) Order 1973, under which employers had to report certain settlements to the Board and keep records as follows:

• (1) settlements affecting 1000 or more employees were notified to and approved by the Board before they were implemented;
• (2) settlements affecting 100 and up to 1000 employees had to be reported within 7 days of being implemented;
• (3) all firms with 10 or more employees had to keep pay records but settlements affecting less than 100 employees did not have to be reported; and
• (4) all firms were to have regard to the Code, but those with less than 10 employees were exempt from making reports or keeping records.

With regard to the Board's second function, the Secretary of State for Employment asked the Board to study the problem of anomalies and relativities of pay both within and between groups of employees. The Board was required to report on anomalies as soon as possible, and not later than 15 September 1973, the report on relativities being required by the end of 1973.

Under the Price and Pay Code for Stage Three, the Board's functions were expanded. The submission of pay settlements and the keeping of pay records in Stage Three were as in Stage Two with the following additions:

• settlements correcting anomalies caused by the standstill were to be reported, irrespective of the number of employees involved;
• pay for new work involving 100 or more employees was to be reported;
• new efficiency payments or restructuring schemes were to be reported irrespective of number of employees involved;
• no payments could be made without the Board's approval;
• settlements covering threshold agreements were to be reported.

Additional arrangements were made for providing the Board with information to apply in the construction industry. They covered clients and contractors involved in construction projects with a capital value of £15m or more where contracts were valued at £100,000 or more, and employers with 25 or more direct manual employees.

The Board were additionally asked to advise the government on the method of determining the pay of Civil Service scientists, and the basis on which London weighting allowances were determined with an assessment of the implications for incomes policy of whatever the Board recommended for the future.

The Pay Board was abolished by the Counter-Inflation (Abolition of Pay Board) Order 1974.