Catalogue description Records of the Office of Manpower Economics

The Office of Manpower Economics (OME) is an independent non-statutory organisation which was set up following the government's intention, announced in November 1970, to wind up the National Board for Prices and Incomes and to establish three review bodies to advise on top salaries and pay for those sectors of the public service for which no negotiating machinery was available.

The OME's main function is to provide a secretariat for Review Bodies for the following groups: the higher judiciary, the chairmen and members of nationalised industry boards, the senior grades of the higher Civil Service and senior officers of the Armed Forces (formerly The Top Salaries Review Body, from 1993 the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB)); the Armed Forces (The Armed Forces Pay Review Body) and doctors and dentists in the National Health Service (The Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration). Since devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the creation of the Greater London Authority the SSRB also now advises on the remuneration of Members and Office Holders of the devolved and London assemblies.

The Office was also used to service ad hoc enquiries such as the Pelham Committee on lecturers in Teachers Training Colleges and to carry out analytical and educational work on pay and its relation to productivity. It also produced reports on the Cunningham Inquiry into the work of the Fire Service (1971).

Following the establishment of the Pay Board OME's role in respect of the Review Bodies continued and from 1973 it also provided the secretariat for the Post Office Arbitration Tribunal until this passed to the Advisory and Conciliation Arbitration Service (ACAS) in 1976.

The Standing Commission on Public Service Pay Comparability chaired by Professor Clegg recommended that OME should provide the secretariat for any new Review Bodies but that its data-producing role should eventually be merged with the Civil Service Pay Research Unit.

A Committee of Inquiry chaired by Lord Edmund-Davies reviewed the negotiating machinery for the pay and conditions of the police. As a result, from 1979, the OME provided the secretariat for the new Police Negotiating Board which was formally established by the Police Negotiating Board Act 1980.

The Pharmacists Review Panel was established in 1981 following a recommendation in the Franks report in 1979. The panel last met in 1994 and was abolished in March 2005.

The Nursing and Other Health Professions Review Body (formerly The Nurses and Professions Allied to Medicine Review Body) was established in 1983. The change in the Review Body's coverage in 2004 was part of the changes brought about by Agenda for Change, the new NHS pay system introduced in 2003. Its remit was further extended in 2007 to cover those staff not already within its remit such as ancillary and maintenance staff and staff in Northern Ireland. It was then renamed the NHS Pay Review Body.

The remit of the Review Bodies was amended in 2003 so that they had regard for local labour market issues and equal value considerations when making future recommendations.

Under the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Act 1991 a Review Body was appointed for school teachers (The School Teachers' Review Body).

The most recently formed Review Body is that for the prison service. The Prison Service Pay Review Body was established in 2001 for governors, operational managers, prison officers and support grades.

Also in 2001 responsibility for the Police Advisory Board for England and Wales which advises the Secretary of State on non-negotiable conditions of service was transferred to OME from the Home Office.

The Office was the responsibility of the Department of Employment from 1971 to 1995 when it transferred to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (formerly the Department of Trade and Industry).