Rishi Sunak signs off big public sector pay awards with 6.5% for teachers, 6% for junior doctors, 7% for police and 5% for armed forces in desperate bid to quell wave of strikes – but will services be cut to foot the multi-billion pound cost?
Rishi Sunak today signed off big pay awards for the public sector as he bids to quell a wave of industrial action.
The PM has approved a 6.5 per cent hike for teachers this year, as well as 7 per cent for police and prison guards, and 5 per cent for the armed forces plus a £1,000 bonus.
Junior doctors have also been granted 6 per cent plus a £1,250 lump sum despite rumours that the government could hold off amid ongoing strikes.
But the decision to accept recommendations from pay review bodies – after a summit with Jeremy Hunt this morning – raises questions about how the multi-billion pounds costs will be funded.
Mr Sunak and Mr Hunt have indicated that there will not be extra money for departments beyond the 3.5 per cent wage increases that were already budgeted for.
There will also be concerns that the scale of the awards could fuel surging inflation.
Rishi Sunak could decide today whether to approve huge public sector pay deals as he holds a crunch meeting with Jeremy Hunt
The disruptions being caused to services by public sector pay disputes was underlined today with junior doctors going on strike again (pictured, picket line in central London)
Mr Sunak and the Chancellor (pictured) will meet this morning to thrash out their response, which could be revealed at the same time as the pay advice
Chief Secretary to the Treasury John Glen told the Commons: ‘Today I can announce that the Government has accepted the headline recommendations of the independent pay review bodies in full.
‘We are doing this whilst abiding by sound money which, as the Chancellor said at Mansion House on Monday this week, is our number one focus.’
He added: ‘It is a fair deal which recognises the anxieties caused by cost of living pressures.’
Mr Sunak and the Chancellor met this morning to thrash out their response.
The issue has split the Cabinet, with at least five senior ministers, including Health Secretary Steve Barclay and Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, pushing for the Government to honour the awards.
They argue it will be much harder to settle the debilitating wave of public sector strikes if the Government ignores its independent advisers.
However, leaving departments to fund anything above 3.5 per cent from within existing budgets would mean billions of pounds being diverted from other spending.
Mr Hunt warned earlier this week that the fight against inflation ‘must come first’ in the Government’s economic priorities – saying the Treasury would not sanction further borrowing to fund this year’s pay settlements.
Official figures have showed wages across the economy are rising at a record 7.3 per cent, fuelling fears of a wage-price spiral that could wreck the PM’s hopes of halving inflation this year.
Thousands of appointments are being disrupted as junior doctors in England started their longest walkout yet.
Official figures have showed wages across the economy are rising at a record 7.3 per cent, fuelling fears of a wage-price spiral that could wreck the PM’s hopes of halving inflation this year
The strike started at 7am and ends at the same time on Tuesday.
It was announced yesterday that teachers in England represented by the NASUWT union have voted in favour of industrial action in a dispute over pay.
Nearly nine out of 10 teacher members of the NASUWT union who voted in the ballot backed strike action.
The union – which passed the 50 per cent ballot turnout required by law – plans to stage continuous action short of strike action starting in September in a dispute over pay, workload and working time.
Dates for strike action in the autumn term will also be considered and it will be co-ordinated with other education unions where possible, the union said.
