Speaking to the Sunday Times, Mr Darling acknowledged that some people in the public sector were earning “very large salaries” for jobs that were much more modestly rewarded a decade ago.

And he highlighted the example of private sector firms, two-thirds of which are planning wage freezes or cuts this year to avoid redundancies.

 

Mr Darling has already announced a 1 per cent cap on public sector pay rises.

 

But a wider study by the Senior Salaries Review Body, due to report to him before the Budget, is also expected to look at the issue of performance-related bonuses and the practice of linking the pay of top public executives with that of their equivalents in the private sector.

 

Mr Darling told the Sunday Times: “It is not altogether clear to me why we pay very large salaries to people to do the same jobs as were being done 10 years ago for rather less.”

 

And he added: “What is being paid has sometimes lost the relationship it ought to have with what someone actually does. Once that happens, it’s not only unfair, it’s actually grossly inefficient.”

 

In some quangos, local authorities and other organisations, top pay no longer passed the “next door neighbour test” of whether it could be justified in a conversation with a neighbour, he said.