As has been pointed out here,
PR Pay is all very well if you have a reasonable means of assessing it.
Once I'd finished taking the mickey out of a C2 colleague at work today, we had a sensible discussion on what was wrong with the existing system. He is a budgets man and his view echos that of tucumseh and others; this was a system brought in when the CS was attempting to justify its position and demonstrate that an element of
PR existed in its pay structure. In practice, the CS reporting system is almost entirely focussed on the 'bonus' and so everyone gets something. It's assessed based on annual reports often written by managers as worried about the demotivating effect of a low bonus as they are in the actual performance. However, as with all things MOD (and in the other ministries) there is not enough cash to go round so only a proportion of those eligible get the top amounts which, for the majority, is less than £500 PA (ie less than £10 or 3 cups of coffee a week).
I also think we need to stop comparing the CS with the uniformed elements as well; you are comparing apples with oranges - make no mistake, the x-factor and all the other little 'perks' that we get (health care etc) exist for one reason only, and that is to ensure the government has an Armed Forces that it can send to war in numbers and the best state possible. If they didn't have to provide it, it wouldn't be there.
STH