Fury after civil service pay rises capped at 3% amid surging inflation

theguardian.com:

Public sector unions have reacted with fury after ministers announced that pay increases across the civil service would be pegged at an average of 2% for the year ahead, despite surging inflation.

In a written statement published on Thursday, the Cabinet Office minister Heather Wheeler said public sector employers would “have freedom to pay average awards up to 2%”, plus up to an extra percentage point in some cases, to be “targeted at specific priorities in their workforce and pay strategies”.

The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, lifted a freeze on public sector pay last autumn, but the fresh limit for civil servants suggests the Treasury remains reluctant to loosen the purse strings.

By contrast, the latest official figures showed average pay across the economy was increasing at an annual rate of 4.8%.

Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), said the offer was in effect a pay cut because of rising inflation and said industrial action could follow.

“The failure of the government to recognise the cost-of-living crisis is a disgrace and shows utter contempt to our members, who have worked themselves to the bone during the pandemic … PCS will now be discussing an industrial response to this outrage.”

Garry Graham, the deputy general secretary of the Prospect union, said:“With inflation rocketing, a national insurance increase coming in and energy prices going through the roof this 2-3% pay remit guidance means yet another crippling real-terms pay cut for civil servants.

“Once again the government is using civil service pay as a political football and attempting to balance the books by penalising the people who have delivered so much through the twin challenges of Brexit and Covid.”

Dave