Current annual salaries

Senior civil servants �44,000 to �131,000 Prime minister - �163,000 Vodafone chief exec - �837, 000 BP chief executive - �815,232 Secondary head - up to �78,800 Leading barrister - �150-200,000 Hospital consultant �66,000 Council chief executive - up to �120,000

But civil servants must meet performance targets if they want to get the pay increases and the worst achievers face little or no salary hike.

The changes, announced by Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday, are in line with recommendations of the Senior Salaries Review Body.

Mr Blair said in a Commons written answer: "The aims of the new pay system are to enable the civil service to compete more effectively to recruit and retain top managers."

The prime minister also said the changes were aimed at rewarding "sustained performance and the delivery of results".

The new pay scales cover the 3,300 officials who make up the top 1% of the civil service - that includes doctors, lawyers and scientists.

Under the scheme, officials on the top band could see their salaries jump from �85,000 to �180,000, while those in the lowest pay grade could move from �50,000 to a maximum of �105,000.

Freezes possible

Most civil servants, however, will not reach the maximum amounts and poor achievers will see their pay frozen.

Jonathan Baume, general secretary of FDA, the union for senior public sector managers, argued that while the pay system was "an improvement", little had been done to address flagging morale within the public sector.

"Significant problems have arisen within the existing system, in particular because of a lack of funding for pay for the senior civil service," he told BBC News Online.

"Despite the review body recommendations, the government has not provided the funding to make the system work effectively.

"There is a perception that the government does not treat the senior civil service with the respect that it deserves," Mr Baume added.

Those officials whose performance is judged satisfactory will have their salaries increased to around �69,500 over time, typically 10 years, if they are on the lowest band.

Only top performers will move on to the next, higher performance rate, of �78,000, and even fewer reaching the maximum ceiling.

The pay change of individual senior civil servants will be finally decided in February or March and the government says most will transfer to the new system on their existing salaries.

Top civil servants' salary makes up 2% of the total civil service pay bill.