Public sector workers could take home bonuses for making savings such as property efficiencies, under new plans unveiled by the Conservatives.

On Saturday, the Tories published their Invitation to Public Sector Workers, a manifesto that promises to give 5 million people working in the public sector more power over the services they deliver.

The Conservatives say they want public officers to be able to bid to create co-operative enterprises, which would they could run independently and with more freedom.

They say co-operatives that find efficiencies would be able to pay themselves bonuses out of the savings they make.

The manifesto also promises to cut bureaucracy and reduce the number of targets set by central government.

It says pay freezes will be introduced for those earning over £18,000 and cites the Crown Estate as an example of an organisation with an “arbitrary gulf” between the highest and lowest earning workers, where the highest is paid 25 times more than the lowest earner.

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