11 November 2010 | Paul Snell

Sack 'em
BBC Radio 4
Monday, 1 November, 8pm

2 out of 5

What happens when MPs stop frothing at the mouth in outrage and the media has had its fun with the latest embarrassing public sector disaster? Is the myth that nobody

gets the sack “no matter how incompetent” true?

With a multitude of sackings expected as a result of the spending review, this programme promised to find out if this was accurate.

It included an interview with a former hospital chief executive (who was himself recently sacked, proving it does happen), who claimed it was “incredibly common” for underperformers in the public sector to be moved into a different role, as an alternative to firing them. He also suggested less senior workers were pressured to resign, to avoid a disciplinary process.

Northern Irish politician Edwin Poots said there was a responsibility to “root out those people who are a dead weight and a burden to those who are carrying out their job to the best of their abilities” in the public sector. But this could be said of all industries, especially among politicians.

To back up this rather thin evidence the show had obtained some statistics under the Freedom of Information Act, which found the Department for Work and Pensions sacked 1,100 of its 120,000-strong workforce last year – 25 of which were for incompetence.

This was, unfortunately, rather unsatisfactory as there was no private sector comparison to determine if we should be outraged or mildly surprised by the figure.

Paul Snell